On the afternoon of December 27, on the sidelines of a press conference announcing the situation and results of police work in 2023, Major General Nguyen Thanh Tung (Deputy Director of Hanoi City Police) informed about the Poker tournament at the National Convention Center showing signs of disguised gambling.
Accordingly, on December 6, the City People's Committee Office issued an official dispatch assigning the City Police to verify a citizen's petition reflecting that VSOP Entertainment and Event Organization Joint Stock Company organized a Bridge and Poker tournament at the National Convention Center with signs of disguised gambling, and the process of approving the organization of the tournament was carried out in violation of the law.
Through initial verification and working with relevant authorities, Hanoi City Police determined that the Department of Culture and Sports had agreed in principle to allow VSOP Company to organize the above tournament. The participation of many foreigners in the tournament was voluntary, without being invited by any Vietnamese unit or organization.
National Convention Center (Photo: D.X.).
Regarding signs of gambling organization, Hanoi City Police coordinated with the Department of Culture to conduct direct inspections at the National Convention Center, recorded statements of some tournament participants, collected information, documents, evidence and discussed with the Hanoi City People's Procuracy for assessment.
The conclusions of the above agencies all agreed that they had not discovered any gambling or exchanging chips for cash by tournament participants, so there was not enough basis to determine that there were signs of the crime of Organizing Gambling or Gambling.
After the incident, Hanoi Police studied legal documents and found that the "Bridge and Poker Hanoi Open December 2023" tournament had a large number of participants, including many foreigners, held at the National Convention Center, but regulations on management, operation, and organization of the tournament were not strict.
At the same time, authorities believe that using cash to pay participation fees and rewards in large amounts leads to the potential risk of being exploited by subjects for gambling activities.
According to Hanoi Police, current regulations on mass sports activities are very general, without specific regulations on conditions, participants, funding sources and prize levels, responsibility for management, organization and operation of tournaments... as well as handling of violations.
In which, the above tournament is carried out according to the regulations in Circular No. 09/2012/TT-BVHTTDL of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.
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