Vietnam’s Deputy Minister of Finance says a pilot program allowing locals to gamble at Corona Resort & Casino on Phu Quoc island must be extended in order to gauge its true effectiveness.
Speaking with local media outlet Tuổi Trẻ, Nguyen Duc Chi confirmed the Ministry of Finance has submitted a request to the Politburo to extend the program, citing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic as having largely rendered the trial ineffective.
“The COVID-19 pandemic over the last two years has had a great impact on Vietnam’s production, hospitality and tourism, particularly the casino business,” Chi said.
“To properly evaluate the effectiveness of the pilot programme, it’s necessary to extend the programme two more years.”
As previously reported by Inside Asian Gaming, the Ministry of Finance submitted a report to the government’s Party Personnel Committee in August requesting the extension of the pilot program until 2024 and calling on the addition of two new casinos to the program.
The trial was initially implemented for three years from 2019 and was supposed to cover two casinos – Corona in Phu Quoc and another located in the rural district of Van Don in Quang Ninh Province. However, COVID-19 has limited even local travel in recent years while the Van Don has yet to open.
The two new casinos the Ministry wants to see added to the trial are located in Da Nang City and Khanh Hoa Province.
Speaking with VietnamNet this week, Professor Ha Ton Vinh also called for the program to be extended and expanded.
“Thanks to the pilot programme, the Government will have suitable solutions to strictly manage casino business activities, without disrupting social order. But at the same time, the policy also needs to better meet the needs of investors in large-scale casino complexes,” he said.
“To meet the needs of domestic players, besides Phu Quoc casino, there are still many large-scale casinos across the country that can be piloted for Vietnamese people to play, such as Ho Tram casino or Nam Hoi An casino.”
A recent report from provincial authorities found that locals contributed just VND141 billion (US$5.9 million) or 5% of revenues at Corona Resort in the first three years of its trial.
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