Vietnamese gamblers get the green light for casinos
VIETNAMESE Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has signed a decree allowing citizens to gamble in the country’s casinos.
The decree, titled 03/2017/ND-CP, also allows foreigners and overseas Vietnamese with a foreign passport to gamble in casinos, alongside citizens. The latter will be admitted into the casinos under a three-year trial that comes into effect on March 15.
Vietnamese citizens admitted into casinos must be aged 21 or older or above with full capacity for civil acts of individuals according to Vietnamese law, and have proof of regular monthly income of 10 million Vietnamese dong (Bt15,000), among other conditions. or be subjected to third degree taxation according to the law on individual income tax. The Ministry of Finance is responsible for providing citizens with application forms.
for these conditions.Only enterprises with a business certificate will have the legal right to run a casino. The business must be a conditioned commercial act that is closely inspected by the appropriate government authority to ensure operations follow the decree’s regulations and other legal procedures, the decree dictates.
Gamblers must buy tickets to the casino for 1 million dong for 24 hours or 25 million dong for a month. Visitors to a casino must not be related to its owners.
Vietnamese gamblers must exchange doing for tokens and vice versa.
Vietnamese citizens who have violated national security or committed other crimes abroad resulting in more than three years’ jail will not be admitted to casinos. This includes those serving jail time, with or without bail, or any other form of legal punishment.
Te decree did not restrict the amount of capital for business owners, but differentiated between large casinos, with more than $2 billion in capital, and smaller ones.(less than $2 billion in capital).
Thdecree states that the casino business must be linked to the entrepreneur’s key commercial operations to help boost tourism,
trade, diversify entertainment and recreation and enrich tourists’ experience, while “ensuring security and national defence, social order and moral health”.The operation of and participation in gambling games must be transparent, coherent and honest, to protect the rights and legal benefits of parties involved. The decree bans gambling between visitors on results of games at casinos; cheating during preparation, organisation or participation in the casinos; and any other action that affects security and order in casinos.
and using gambling machines, tables, tokens and other devices with content not approved by the government.The decree also forbids the casino businesses from “providing illegal gambling online or telecommunication networks, from smuggling and transferring foreign currency, precious gems and metals and other acts of money laundering, sponsoring terrorism and prostitution”.
