Vietnam expands pilot programme allowing eligible citizens to enter select casinos
A new government resolution permits eligible Vietnamese citizens to enter additional casino projects, extending and formalising the country’s controlled pilot framework for domestic casino access.
Vietnam’s government has issued a new resolution authorising eligible Vietnamese citizens to enter designated casino projects, expanding its long-running pilot scheme aimed at assessing domestic participation in the gaming sector.
Under the resolution, eligible citizens may now enter the casino at the Phú Quốc project in An Giang Province. The government has also approved five-year pilot periods allowing citizen entry at the Hồ Tràm project in Ho Chi Minh City and at the Vân Đồn project in Quảng Ninh Province, commencing once each venue receives its certificate of eligibility for casino operations.
The management of Vietnamese citizens entering casinos, as well as operational supervision, must follow Decree No. 03/2017/NĐ-CP and any subsequent amendments. At the end of each pilot period, the Hồ Tràm and Vân Đồn casinos must suspend entry for local citizens unless further decisions are issued by competent authorities.
Vietnam first authorised controlled citizen entry in 2016, when the Politburo approved a pilot scheme covering Phú Quốc and Vân Đồn for three years. Only the Phú Quốc casino was operational at the time, launching in January 2019, with the pilot originally running until January 2022.
In 2022, the Ministry of Finance proposed extending the scheme due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, which significantly reduced casino performance and limited the effectiveness of the initial evaluation period. The Politburo approved an extension at Phú Quốc until the end of 2024.
For Vân Đồn, the pilot period is set at three years from commencement of casino operations. To formalise these extensions, the government issued Decree No. 145/2024/NĐ-CP amending regulations on the duration of pilot access for Vietnamese citizens.
The latest resolution took effect on November 26 and requires casino project owners to ensure strict compliance with all operational and supervisory requirements relating to citizen entry and casino management.
