Betting business investment, 8 years of stagnation

After nearly 8 years of implementing Decree 06/2017/ND-CP on betting on horse racing, dog racing and international football, there is only one business operating, which was established before that.

“Ignoring” the betting industry

Continuing the series of events to synthesize opinions to propose solutions to remove "bottlenecks of bottlenecks", the Association of Foreign Investment Enterprises (VAFIE) has just organized a Workshop "Contributing ideas to amend and supplement Decree No. 06/2017/ND-CP".

At the workshop, economic expert Can Van Luc said: “Betting business is a type of game with prizes, a type of profession and business field recognized and permitted by law, but the business principle stated in Decree 06/2017/ND-CP is 'not encouraged to develop'. If it is not encouraged, then the state management agency has no reason to do it.”

According to the concept of Vietnamese people since ancient times, gambling is not only a social evil, but also the cause of all kinds of social evils, causing social disorder. Because of this mentality, state management agencies do not want to develop betting business activities, as well as casinos and electronic games (3 popular forms of entertainment in the world), while many other countries have been developing this entertainment service industry.

“The global betting market is currently estimated at 71 billion USD and will double by 2030. In Vietnam, according to research by Ladbrokes (a British sports betting company), illegal football betting turnover alone is estimated at 3-5% of GDP. The amount of foreign currency in the illegal betting market has been flowing abroad, causing a huge loss of revenue to the state budget,” said Mr. Luc.

Currently, in Vietnam, only the Sports and Entertainment Services Joint Stock Company (SES) has been granted a certificate of eligibility to operate dog racing for prizes (since 2000) with the Lam Son – Vung Tau Dog Racing Track. Proposals to license dog and horse racing projects in Hanoi, Phu Yen, Binh Duong, Vinh Phuc, Da Nang, Lam Dong, and Ha Tinh are still “suspended”.

Prof. Dr. Nguyen Mai, Chairman of VAFIE, cited a series of gambling and betting cases both online and in person that were discovered by the police with illegal amounts worth tens of thousands of billions of VND to prove that the ministries and branches "ignoring" the sports betting service business has led to many negative aspects, social evils, and insecurity.

“The legal framework for sports betting services is already in place, the market is huge, businesses want and have enough money to invest in technology to provide services, but state management agencies do not want to do it, hindering businesses with the mindset that if they cannot manage it, they will ban it,” emphasized Professor, Dr. Nguyen Mai.

"Smash and rebuild"

Chairman of the Board of Directors of Thien Phuc Joint Stock Company, Mr. Hoang Ngoc Nhat, said that every year, at least 5-6 billion USD, even up to 9-10 billion USD, is poured into the gambling and betting market on the internet by Vietnamese people. And most of this money has flowed abroad. If this sector is managed and controlled, it will prevent huge foreign currency losses for the country, the state budget will collect a huge amount of money and create many legal jobs," Mr. Nhat emphasized.

Many people believe that investors are not interested in this activity and Vietnamese enterprises do not have enough technology and experience to manage this sensitive activity. However, according to Mr. Nhat, many investors wanted to invest in betting business projects, but when approaching Decree 06/2017/ND-CP, they had to give up.

For “purely Vietnamese” businesses, the obstacles are no less. Mr. Nhat cited that Decree 06/2017/ND-CP stipulates that in case there are 2 or more interested investors, the selection of investors to implement horse racing and dog racing betting business projects must be organized by bidding, but it does not clearly state whether it is bidding for the project, bidding to select investors, or bidding for betting business licenses, so businesses have to give up.

Decree 06/2017/ND-CP has been initiated for amendment and supplementation, but according to Mr. Nhat, if it is not “smashed and rebuilt”, betting business activities in Vietnam will not change. The draft amendment stipulates that investors in this field must commit to contributing to the budget no less than 5% of revenue. This regulation “extinguishes” any business that wants to bet on horse racing, dog racing and international football.

“The reason is that investors must spend at least 65% of their revenue to pay bonuses to players, and taxes account for 35% of their revenue. So, if they have to deduct at least 5% of their revenue to the state budget, they will lose at least 5%, so certainly no one will invest in this field,” Mr. Nhat worried.

Source: https://baodautu.vn/dau-tu-kinh-doanh-dat-cuoc-8-nam-tram-lang-d231451.html