Vietnam Proposes Dropping Financial Proof Requirement for Citizens Entering Casinos
Vietnam’s Ministry of Finance proposes dropping the requirement for citizens to provide proof of financial capacity to enter casinos. A related draft would raise the entry fee to VND 2.5 million per person for a continuous 24-hour period or VND 50 million per person per month. Recent financial disclosures from two casino operators show losses.
Vietnam’s Ministry of Finance is drafting new regulations to replace Circular No. 102/2017/TT-BTC. It proposes removing the requirement for Vietnamese citizens to submit proof of financial capacity when entering casinos, along with provisions assigning players and casino operators responsibility for those documents. The changes remain in draft form.
A related draft government decree would no longer specify criteria for assessing players’ financial capacity or methods for proving it. It also proposes raising the entry fee to VND 2.5 million per person for a continuous 24-hour period, or VND 50 million per person per month. The Ministry of Finance also proposes removing the requirement for casino operators to allocate at least 60% of entry-fee revenue to education, training, vocational education and healthcare. The draft retains the principle of using that revenue for social welfare, community services, public security and other purposes.
Công ty cổ phần Đầu tư và Phát triển Du lịch Phú Quốc, which operates the Phu Quoc casino participating in a pilot program allowing Vietnamese citizens to enter, reported a pre-tax loss of VND 202.6 billion in the first half of 2026, compared with a loss of more than VND 560 billion in the same period a year earlier. As of June 30, 2026, its accumulated losses stood at VND 6.192 trillion and its total liabilities at VND 51.674 trillion.
The Phu Quoc casino operator had accumulated losses of VND 6.192 trillion as of June 30, 2026.（VietVance）
Công ty cổ phần Quốc tế Hoàng Gia, which operates a casino in Ha Long, Quang Ninh, reported net revenue of nearly VND 39 billion in the third quarter of 2026, up 13.7% year on year, but posted an after-tax loss of VND 2.6 billion, about twice the loss in the same period a year earlier. The company said higher land rental rates and the end of the 30% land rent reduction it received in the same period last year put pressure on its operations. Its accumulated after-tax loss for the first nine months of 2026 exceeded VND 4.3 billion; as of September 30, its accumulated losses were nearly VND 602 billion.
Source: VietVance
