Vietnam’s Ministry of Finance has permitted the state-run computerized lottery company Vietlott to offer international football betting, CEO Nguyen Thanh Dam told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper on Thursday.

An expert who wishes to remain anonymous said that the governments in many countries such as Singapore, China, and Canada have allowed state-owned enterprises to provide the service for a long time.

According to the expert, the operation of such a service in a not-for-profit format is beneficial to society as it meets the entertainment needs of football fans while ensuring social order and safety.

Vietnam had not yet licensed any enterprises to operate legal football betting business although its law stipulates that an enterprise can pilot international football bets through bidding.

In 2021, the Ministry of Finance consulted competent agencies on amending a relevant decree, including allowing bets on national football championships in Europe and purchases of bet tickets on the Internet.

Meanwhile, police in Vietnam detect and launch legal proceedings against many illegal football betting rackets that generate transactions totaling trillions of dong for games in the world's football tournaments every year. (US$1 = VND23,443)

A survey by the UK’s leading sports betting company, Ladbrokes, showed that sales in the illegal betting market in Vietnam hit $3-4 billion in September 2007. 

In that same year, it is estimated that about $200 million worth of illegal betting in Vietnam went to Macau and Hong Kong, according to Singapore-based betting company Pools.

At the end of 2020, experts told a seminar that Vietnam’s football betting market has an annual turnover of up to $10-12 billion.

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