Vietnam gov’t votes to expand legal sports betting options

Vietnam’s government has expanded its legal sports betting market to include a wider variety of wager-worthy sports.

On Thursday, Vietnam’s National Assembly voted 457-1 in favor of the new Law on Sports and Physical Training. The law, which is set to take effect on January 1, 2019, includes a provision covering legal sports wagering.

In February 2017, Vietnam issued Decree No. 06/2017/ND-CP, which called for a five-year pilot program that would allow local punters to wager on international football matches and horse- and dog-racing. The pilot program was officially launched last December.

In March, the government published a list of the officially acceptable international football matches on which Vietnamese punters could wager this year, including the FIFA World Cup and matches involving the Asian Football Confederation, the Asean Football Federation, the Copa America Femenina and some UEFA Champions League action.