The "cake" is delicious but hard to swallow

Since 2017, with the approval of the National Assembly Standing Committee and based on the provisions of the Investment Law, the Government has issued Decree 06 on betting business on horse racing, dog racing and international football.

The completion of the legal framework has made many domestic and foreign investors excited to participate in this market. However, most of the projects are still in the form of investment proposals, not yet implemented, and not yet organized for betting.

Reporting at the 31st session of the National Assembly Standing Committee, Minister Ho Duc Phoc said that regarding horse and dog racing betting, from 2017 to now, 7 provinces and cities have requested the Prime Minister to approve investment policies for horse and dog racing betting business investment projects.

In particular, the Prime Minister has approved the investment policy for a horse racing track investment project (with betting) in Soc Son district, Hanoi city.

This is the Horse Racing Track Multi-purpose Entertainment Complex Project built in Tan Minh and Phu Linh communes, Soc Son district with an investment capital of up to 9,577 billion VND, equivalent to 420 million USD with an area of 125 hectares.

In 2007, Hanoi Tourist and Global Consultant Network submitted a written proposal to study the project.

According to the Outline of the partial adjustment of the master plan for socio-economic development of the capital until 2020, with a vision to 2030, announced in 2018, the Hanoi People's Committee believes that when the project comes into operation, it will attract about 5,000 direct workers and 20,000 to 25,000 indirect workers; bringing a relatively large regular source of income to the city budget.

In addition, the construction of the project located in the northern tourist area of the capital will add high-quality tourism products to Soc Son in particular and Hanoi in general.

At the same time, licensing, investing, and putting into operation the Soc Son horse racing track project will help Hanoi collect 40-50 million USD in corporate income tax each year, and about 100-200 million USD in special consumption tax from horse racing business activities.

In October 2019, the Chairman of the Hanoi People's Committee at that time granted the investment decision for the Multi-purpose Entertainment Complex Project - Horse Racing Track in Soc Son District to Charmvit Group - Korea.

After many years of "shelving" the investment policy, this project has recently begun to make its first moves.

In fact, many businesses have seen the potential of this "gamble" but when it comes to implementing investment and construction, they leave it unfinished, making dog and horse racing tracks still just a dream.

Madagui Horse Racecourse

First of all, we must mention the project of Thien Ma – Madagui Horse and Dog Racing Track – Polo Club and Horse Show, located in Da Oai Commune, Da Huoai District, Lam Dong Province, invested by Thien Ma Company.

This project was first granted an investment certificate in early 2011, nearly 14 years ago.

The project covers an area of approximately 69.81 hectares, with a total estimated capital of approximately VND1,548.6 billion. The project's objective is to invest in the construction of a horse racing track, a dog racing track, a horse racing club and horse shows in Da Huoai district.

The project has been implemented for a long time and has been adjusted many times in many aspects, especially the progress.

Đầu tư trường đua: — *Thien Ma Madagui Racecourse has an area of nearly 70 hectares.*

The Ministry of Planning and Investment has a report stating that the Thien Ma - Madagui Horse Racecourse project has not been implemented on schedule despite being licensed very early, however, the project has not completed site clearance after 9 years.

Up to now, after many changes in policy and implementation goals, the project has not yet completed legal procedures to begin construction.

Most recently, in November 2023, the Lam Dong Provincial People's Committee approved the project's investment adjustment policy. In addition to adding the goal of building a dog racing track, the project's progress was extended by 24 months, until November 2025.

Notably, the company was once fined by the management agency for arbitrarily organizing the construction of 16 projects and items on land that had not been permitted by the competent authority to change the land use purpose of the project in accordance with regulations.

Accordingly, Thien Ma Company received a decision to fine 80 million VND; forced to dismantle 3/16 constructions that do not comply with planning; for the remaining 13 constructions, the company must carry out procedures to change land use purposes.

Xuan Thanh Dog Racing Sports and Entertainment Service Center

The Xuan Thanh Dog Racing Entertainment Service Center project is being implemented on an area of over 29,000m2 in Xuan Thanh commune (Nghi Xuan district, Ha Tinh) with a total investment of 300 billion VND , invested by Xuan Thanh Dog Racing Joint Stock Company.

The project was granted an investment certificate by the People's Committee of Ha Tinh province in mid-2007 and officially completed at the end of 2014.

Although construction has been completed for more than a decade, the VND300 billion dog racing entertainment service center in Ha Tinh has yet to come into operation due to the lack of a betting business license.

The reason the dog racing center was forced to temporarily stop operating after its pilot opening in 2018 was due to the criteria that Ha Tinh had not yet had the Prime Minister approve this project in the list of priority investment projects for the period 2021-2030, with a vision to 2050.

In the official dispatch of the People's Committee of Ha Tinh province sent to the Ministry of Planning and Investment regarding the proposal to adjust the Xuan Thanh Dog Racing Sports and Entertainment Service Center project in December 2023, the province said that the project cannot operate yet because it has not completed the procedures to add the business objective of dog racing betting.

Phu Yen Horse Racecourse

The Phu Yen Horse Racing Course project was approved for investment in 2016 by the Phu Yen Provincial People's Committee with a total estimated investment of about 100 million USD, expected to come into operation in 2019.

This project is expected to be built in the North of Bai Sung in An My commune, Tuy An district, Phu Yen province by the investor, Phu Yen Horse Racing Track One Member Co., Ltd.

The total area of the project is about 82.4115ha of land and 13ha of sea, with the design scale including: Stadium, grandstand, horse and dog racing track with an area of about 50ha; horse and dog breeding and training area, breeding area, running track for training, veterinary room and care for horses and dogs about 10ha; service area, operator house, club about 10ha; technical infrastructure (fences, electricity, water, roads, landscape trees) about 12.4115ha.

After that, the investor's project implementation progress approved by the Provincial People's Committee ended, but the investor still had not completed the procedures related to land, environment, construction, and conversion of forest use purposes to carry out construction investment.

Although the Provincial People's Committee and the Department of Planning and Investment have repeatedly requested the investor to contribute sufficient equity capital and provide documents proving financial capacity to ensure project implementation and carry out procedures to adjust the project investment policy according to regulations, the investor still has not complied.

The final outcome of the project was that the investor decided to terminate the project according to regulations and returned the original investment registration certificate to the Phu Yen Department of Planning and Investment.

Not only the 3 projects mentioned above, but also projects with scale from millions to billions of USD are still on paper such as in Vinh Phuc province (1.5 billion USD), Bac Ninh (500 million USD), Da Nang (200 million USD)...

Among the projects that have been invested in and approved, only the Dai Nam horse racing track (Binh Duong) of the owner of this tourist area has been operating since the end of 2017, while most of the other projects registered for investment from North to South have "died young".

From the above reality, it can be seen that although investing in racetracks is a lucrative "piece of cake" that many investors aim for, it seems that this is not an easy dish to swallow.

Source: https://www.nguoiduatin.vn/dau-tu-truong-dua-mieng-banh-ngon-nhung-kho-nuot-204241005042448973.htm