A casino in Phú Quốc. The Ministry of Finance has proposed amendments to the decree about casino businesses. — Photo tuoitre.vn

HÀ NỘI — The Ministry of Finance has proposed amendments to the decree about casino businesses to create favourable conditions for investors.

The regulation for the eligibility to run casino business, including minimum capital of US$2 billion for a casino project and the disbursed capital of $1 billion or higher, was proposed to be kept the same.

However, for regions like Vân Đồn Economic Zone in the northern province of Quảng Ninh, the ministry proposed that for investors who poured money in other projects in the region, the disbursed capital in these projects would be calculated as the disbursed capital for the eligibility of running a casino business but not higher than 25 per cent of the total investment of the casino project.

The proposal, if passed, would facilitate the investment of Sun Group into a casino complex project in Vân Đồn as the developer’s disbursed capital at Vân Đồn International Airport and Vân Đồn – Hạ Long – Móng Cái Expressway would be calculated as part of the disbursement for the casino business.

The Vân Đồn International Airport had a total investment of VNĐ7.5 trillion ($322 million) and went into operation in December 2018. The 60km Hạ Long-Vân Đồn Expressway had a total investment of VNĐ12 trillion and the construction of Vân Đồn-Móng Cái Expressway is expected to be complete in 2021.

Sun Group in a document of Quảng Ninh Province People’ Committee in April 2017 was confirmed as the only investor selected by the provincial authority for the casino complex project in Vân Đồn to propose to the Prime Minister for consideration.

The Vân Đồn casino complex project would have a total investment of around $2 billion and be developed on an area of 445ha in Vạn Yên Commune, Vân Đồn District.

Sun Group has asked for an extension of the project's life to 70 years from 50 years. 

Construction of the project is expected to run from this year until 2029. The province planned to announce the official investor of the project in the second quarter of this year and to date, no name had been announced. 

The Politburo previously approved the pilot implementation of allowing Vietnamese to gamble at casinos in Vân Đồn and Phú Quốc. Vingroup’s Corona Resort and Casino in Phú Quốc was the first casino in Việt Nam to open to Vietnamese on January 19, 2019.

The casino in Phú Quốc received around 47,400 Vietnamese in 2019, or 45 per cent of its customers, according to the finance ministry.

The ministry also proposed casino investors would be allowed to transfer their capital at casino projects after five years of being granted licences.

Twelve casino projects have been granted licences in Việt Nam and eight of them are operational.

The ministry’s statistics showed total revenue of these eight casinos around doubled in the past three years, from VNĐ1.19 trillion in 2017 to VNĐ2.5 trillion in 2019. The contribution to the State budget rose from VNĐ645 billion to VNĐ1.34 trillion. — VNS