3 minute read
VIETNAM
Vietnam debuts IRs as industry expands
Vietnam’s casino industry continues its solid pace of development, with the first property to allow in locals opening in January and a second major debut expected late in the year with the first phase of the $4 billion Hoiana resort.
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While expansion has not been at the rapid pace of neighbouring Cambodia, many foreign investors view Vietnam as a highly attractive market, with better controls and regulation.
The Hoiana, which will be Vietnam’s largest integrated resort, will have more than 100 tables and 300 gaming machines.
The three-phase resort will include three luxury hotels with more than 1000 hotel rooms in Phase 1, retail space, a golf course and foodand beverage outlets.
The property is being developed by Macau’s biggest junket, Suncity Group, local investment group Vinacapital and VMS and in scope it is expected to be slightly bigger than Singapore’s Resorts World Sentosa.
The resort is located in central Vietnam, which is seen as one of the most promising areas for casino investment in the country. The area is well connected to surrounding countries through international flights from Danang.
Industry experts estimate that an existing casino in the area, the Crown International Club, generates in excess of $550 million.
Under Vietnam’s recently revised gaming legislation, developers must invest a minimum of $2 billion in their resorts
Suncity expects VIPs to the be main target visitors initially, with overhauls to infrastructure in the region expected to attract mass-market visitors in the future.
Phase 2, being finalized at the moment, is set to include 100 villas, two hotel brands boasting 2,000 rooms, a commercial village with retail stores and a theme park. A total of 4km of beach line will be part of the project, as well as more than a dozen restaurants.
The Corona Resort and Casino, which is located on Phu Quoc island, was said to have had a slow start but is beginning to gain some traction. It is the only one in Vietnam that currently allows locals to gambleunder a three-year pilot scheme.
Another resort under development in the far north of the country in Van Dong is also expected to form part of the pilot scheme once it opens.
Netherlands-based Upffinity Gaming Management operates Corona under an exclusive management deal signed in May 2017, while Peter Keijzer, the former general manager of Holland Casino in Amsterdam, is serving in the same role at the Phu Quoc venue.
The casino’s location, though, is seen by some as a big challenge. The island is in the far south of Vietnam and has a local population of just over 100,000.
The 18,000 square metres of casino space offers 100 tables – including baccarat, roulette, black jack, sic bo and poker variants. There are 30 automated roulette stations and about 850 slot machines.
Arrivals gain 8.8 percent Jan-May
Tourist arrivals to Vietnam in the first five months of 2019 rose 8.8 percent compared with the same time last year, with the country targeting a total of 18 million visitors for the year as a whole.
However, arrivals for the month of May alone were down 9.7 percent.
Vietnam’s tourism authorities have been actively promoting the country, holding a recent conference to promote ties with South Korea and signing a memorandum of understanding for bilateral cooperation on tourism with Russia.
Vietnam deports 35 Chinese for illegal online gambling
Vietnam recently deported 35 Chinese nationals, four women and 31 men, for organising online gambling activities in Da Nang City.
The Chinese group told the police that they were part of an organisation in China and received orders to build a transnational ring to organise online gambling in order to avoid detection by Chinese authorities.
Authorities in Da Nang raided six properties after receiving tips, where they also arrested unspecified numbers of Vietnamese workers implicated in the online bust.
Vietnam has been cracking down hard on online gambling, which remains illegal in the country.
