Vietnam integrated resort The Grand Ho Tram has today received approval from the central government to allow local players entry to its casino, Inside Asian Gaming has learned.
The company is understood to have received an official letter of approval signed by one of the country’s nine Deputy Prime Ministers and current Minister of Finance Ho Duc Phoc.
Under the newly passed resolution, both Ho Tram and a yet-to-be-developed integrated resort in Van Don will be permitted to allow locals gambling under a 5-year pilot program effective from 26 November 2025.
Corona Resort & Casino in Phu Quoc, which took part in a previous pilot program that began in 2019, has been granted permanent locals status.
Walt Power, the CEO of Ho Tram, told IAG, “We have been preparing for good news for a while now and we take our obligations under the resolution very seriously. We look forward to opening to locals as soon as possible.”
First opened in 2013 with an initial investment cost of US$500 million, The Grand Ho Tram is planned to be a US$4.2 billion integrated resort once fully complete, offering a casino, 9,000 hotel rooms, an 18-hole golf course, villas and expansive retail options. The until now foreigner-only casino, golf course and some hotel rooms have been operational since opening.
US hedge fund giant Harbinger Capital – which covered the resort’s initial US$500 million investment – sold off its majority interest in The Grand Ho Tram’s parent company, Asian Coast Development Ltd (ACDL), to Warburg Pincus in July 2019.
Warburg Pincus subsequently inserted a new management team in early 2020, led by Power – a Macau industry veteran whose previous roles include SVP of Operations for Sands China subsidiary Venetian Macau Limited.
As reported by IAG, Ho Tram recently broke ground on a US$1 billion, 35-hectare expansion that will, when complete, add a new five-star hotel complex, luxury resort villas, entertainment amenities and an international convention and exhibition center to its existing offering.
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