Vietnam to halve $4b casino investment threshold to attract int’l developers

Vietnam will make it easier for foreign investors to launch casinos in the country by halving the required minimum investment threshold, according to a government advisor.

Speaking this week at the Macao Gaming Summit, Stellar Group CEO Augustine Ha Ton Vinh said Vietnam’s government now recognized that its $4b minimum investment requirement had proved a non-starter for international casino developers and thus the government intended to reduce this minimum to a more reasonable $2b.

Vinh, who has been advising Vietnam’s leaders on revising the country’s gambling laws, said the government would also allow developers to commit the $2b in stages, rather than forcing them to blow it all on a project’s initial phase. The proposals are part of draft legislation that Vinh says are complete but likely won’t be made public until February or March.

Vinh said the government hoped to issue three more integrated resort licenses to join the Ho Tram resort, which opened in 2013. But operator interest has been scant, in part due to the investment capital requirement, but also due to Vietnam’s prohibition on local residents gambling in casinos. Operators like Las Vegas Sands have stated that their interest in Vietnam depends on the government relaxing this restriction.