Minister of Finance Ho Duc Phoc has just reported to National Assembly deputies some contents related to the group of questions to be questioned at the 31st session of the National Assembly Standing Committee on March 18.
In 2016, the Politburo allowed Vietnamese people to play casino in Phu Quoc and Van Don for a pilot period of 3 years. However, the first casino project for Vietnamese people to play is Corona Phu Quoc, which has been in operation since January 2019. The project is invested by Phu Quoc Tourism Investment and Development Joint Stock Company. This casino is part of a project complex with a total investment of more than 50,000 billion VND, including 1,470 gaming machines and 147 gaming tables.
After more than 2 years of piloting, since May 2021, the Ministry of Finance has proactively coordinated with ministries and branches to report to the Prime Minister to evaluate the pilot process.
By August 2023, with the consent of the Government Party Committee, the Party Committee of the Ministry of Finance reported to the Politburo on the pilot results and is in the process of asking for the Politburo's direction.
Regarding business results, accumulated revenue from 2019 - 2023 reached 6,404 billion VND, paying the State budget 3,679 billion VND. Notably, in 2023, revenue increased by 45.7% compared to 2022 to 2,180 billion VND, paying the State budget was 1,230 billion VND (up 68.9%).
Ticket revenue for Vietnamese people in 2023 reached 32.22 billion VND, accumulated from 2019 to 2023 reached 242 billion VND.
The report stated that although the casino business results in 2023 were better than in 2022, the overall project is suffering an accumulated loss of VND 3,724 billion due to large depreciation and interest payments in the early stages and difficulties caused by the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic (2019-2021 period).
According to the report, from 2019 to the end of 2023, the cumulative number of Vietnamese players is 295,943 (accounting for 62% of total players), and foreigners are 179,507 (accounting for 38% of total players).
To date, there are 9 casino projects in operation, including 6 small-scale casinos and 3 large-scale casinos.
Regarding the future direction, the Ministry of Finance will only grant casino business licenses to large-scale projects in service, tourism, trade, and entertainment complexes with a total investment of at least 2 billion USD; casino business will only be organized after the project has disbursed at least 50% of the total investment capital.
In addition, casino business locations are approved by the Politburo for each specific project and must be approved by the Prime Minister in accordance with investment law.
The Ministry is also reporting to the Politburo for approval on the pilot program for Vietnamese people to continue playing casinos in a cautious manner, focusing initially on Phu Quoc and Van Don, the two projects approved by the Politburo; the pilot program has not been expanded to other casino projects and some other contents on casino business activities to amend and supplement Decree No. 03/2017 to complete the legal framework.
The Ministry of Finance said that so far, there are 9 casino projects in operation, including 6 small-scale casinos and 3 large-scale casinos. In addition, there are currently 2 projects under construction according to the provisions of investment law, but have not been put into casino business due to the impact of the Covid-19 epidemic, so the implementation is slow, there are difficulties in negotiating and selecting partners, and managing casino business .
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