The Ministry of Finance has proposed extending the trial period during which Vietnamese citizens are allowed to play at the Phu Quoc casino, Vietnam’s first casino allowing Vietnamese citizens, in Kien Giang Province in southern Vietnam to December 31 this year.

The proposal was included in a draft decree on casino business.

In 2016, the Politburo approved a pilot program for Vietnamese to enter the casino on Phu Quoc Island and another in northern Quang Ninh’s Van Don District, but only the Phu Quoc casino began commercial operations in January 2019. 

The trial program concluded in January 2022.

In 2022, the Ministry of Finance urged the government to seek the Politburo’s permission to extend the trial period to 2024 as the COVID-19 pandemic in the 2020-21 period affected the operation of the Phu Quoc casino.

Between January 2022 and August 2023, the government assessed the pilot program.

The Politburo then agreed to extend the pilot program for Vietnamese to enter the Phu Quoc casino until the end of 2024.

As for the Van Don casino, the pilot period for Vietnamese players would be three years from the commencement of its operations.

As a result, the Ministry of Finance proposed the government issue the decree with the trial period for Vietnamese people to plat at casinos with simplified procedures.

Under the draft decree, the Ministry of Finance will coordinate with the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Planning and Investment, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the State Bank of Vietnam, and the People’s Committees of localities where casinos are allowed to open for Vietnamese players to assess and report the pilot results to the government so that the government can ask for higher-level agencies’ decisions to terminate or continue the pilot program.

As per prevailing regulations, casino-goers must be 21 years old or above, earn at least VND10 million (US$400) per month, buy a daily ticket at VND1 million ($40) per person or a monthly ticket at VND25 million ($1,000) per person.

About 300,000 Vietnamese, aged 21 to 97, entered the casino on Phu Quoc Island from 2019 to 2023, according to the Ministry of Finance.

The Vietnamese gamblers spent VND242 billion ($9.8 million) buying tickets to the casino.

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