Casino in Vietnam: Billion dollar plans are not 'easy to bite'
By Hanh Vu
September 26, 2017 | 04:32 PM GMT+7
Although casino is welcomed by investors and many local officials, this industry still has to face many challenges.
The value of project is more than US$4 billion invested by Asian Coast Development Ltd. - Photo: TheLEADER
According to the Institute of Regional Sustainable Development, in 2014, the total revenue from casino in Vietnam was VND1,379 billion (roughly US$60.7 million) but not all casinos in Vietnam were profitable.
According to a report on the casino business just released by Vietnam SaiGon Securities Inc.(SSI), the Grand Ho Tram Strip has the largest scale of 90 gambling tables but failed to break even in late 2016. This project is more than US$4 billion invested by Asian Coast Development Ltd. (ACDL).
Owning a casino for foreigners in Ha Long City, Royal International Corporation (RIC) reported a loss of VND18.55 billion (US$816,000) in 2016. In the first half of 2017, RIC continued to report a loss of VND32 billion (US$1.4 million), mainly from the casino business.
Actually, the activities of licensed casinos in Vietnam have not been improved in recent years. The main reason is that the regulations do not allow the Vietnamese to participate in casino so the main players of these gaming zones are from Chinese tourists and a small number of visitors from Korea and Japan.
However, there are some casinos doing business well such as Crowne casino in Da Nang owned by the Chinese company Hui Kong. The managers of this casino estimated that revenue from VIP guests grew to US$3 billion each month, double the revenue of Solaire casinos in the Philippines, Genting Highlands in Malaysia and NagaWorld in Cambodia.
The casino in Vietnam has not accepted the Vietnamese players so all casino guests are foreigners. The casino business is still seen as money-grabbing business but it's not really an "easy to bite" sector.
Phan Huu Thang, former Director of the Foreign Investment Agency under the Ministry of Planning and Investment, said that most of casinos in Vietnam are small scale and only focus on casino service.
According to Phan Huu Thang, there are a number of reasons leading to this situation. The main reason that can be easily seen is small market. The other reason is that casino in Vietnam has only casino services without other entertainment services.
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