INDOCHINA 36
VIETNAM
Locals gaming underwhelms Vietnam’s hotly anticipated locals gaming program has got off to a slow start, with remote locations and red tape cited as key factors in deterring visitation.
T
he government announced in 2017 that it would allow locals to gamble in a three-year pilot program to assess the impact on its nationals. The conditions were a minimum age of 21 and a minimum monthly salary of at least $445. It also said only integrated resorts fulfilling a $2 billion investment criteria would be selected. At the time, the announcement was widely seen as being a game-changer for integrated resorts in Vietnam, potentially attracting much higher levels of foreign investment. Many of the larger operators, such as Las Vegas Sands, have publicly stated they will not invest in jurisdictions which don’t have local support.
Asia Gaming Briefings | October 2019
Since then enthusiasm has waned. The government restricted the program to just two IRs, one on Phu Quoc island in the far south, and one that is still not completed in Van Don in the far north. The Corona Casino & Resort opened in January this year. The five-star property features hotels, a golf course, spa, safari park and an amusement park, as well as a convention centre and bars and restaurants. The casino spans 18,800 sq m over two floors and features 100 tables, 1000 slot machines and 843 electronic gaming machines. It has 32 fusion roulette machines, as well as stadium-style games. It has a VIP casino on the 8th floor with views of the coast.
The resort is said to be doing swift business on the non-gaming side, but the casino has not been flooded with players from Vietnam. “Vietnam has promoted gaming on Phu Quoc but statistics show more people are getting on planes to Phnom Penh, or are driving up to Bavet, than are flying down to Phu Quoc,” Tim Shepherd, director of Fortuna Investments said at the Mekong Gaming Summit in September. “It seems that putting casinos that allow locals in far remote locations and expecting locals to go there does not at this point seem to make sense, though it’s early days.” Part of the problem may be the lack of clarity in terms of what a Vietnamese citizen needs to produce to access the casino.
