Decree No. 145/2024/NĐ-CP sets pilot end dates for Vietnamese citizens entering casinos

Vietnam's Government issued Decree No. 145/2024/NĐ-CP, amending Decree No. 03/2017/NĐ-CP on the pilot duration permitting Vietnamese citizens to enter casino business locations¹. Under the decree, the pilot for the first casino enterprise permitted to welcome Vietnamese citizens ran until December 31, 2024, while for other casino enterprises the pilot duration is three years from the date they receive a certificate of eligibility for casino business operations¹.

The pilot scheme dates to 2016, when the Politburo permitted Vietnamese citizens to enter casinos in Phú Quốc and Vân Đồn for three years¹. At that time only the Phú Quốc Casino was operating, beginning in January 2019, and under Decree No. 03/2017/NĐ-CP the pilot was to run until January 2022¹. In 2022 the Ministry of Finance proposed that the Government ask the Politburo to extend the pilot at Phú Quốc Casino by two more years, until the end of 2024, explaining that the COVID-19 pandemic had severely affected casino business performance and the short initial pilot period did not produce the desired results¹. In May 2024 the Politburo agreed to extend the pilot at the Phú Quốc project until the end of 2024¹. For the Vân Đồn project, the pilot period was set at three years from the date the project begins casino business operations¹.

Decree No. 145/2024/NĐ-CP stipulates that once the pilot period ends, enterprises must stop allowing Vietnamese citizens to enter casinos until the Government issues a decree on either terminating or continuing to permit Vietnamese citizens to enter casinos¹.

A later Government resolution, reported separately, permits eligible Vietnamese citizens to enter the casino at the Phú Quốc casino project in An Giang Province from November 26, pilots entry at the Hồ Tràm casino project in HCM City for five years from November 26, and at the Vân Đồn project in Quảng Ninh Province for five years from the date a certificate of eligibility for casino business operations is issued¹. That resolution takes effect on November 26¹. At the end of the pilot period, the Hồ Tràm and Vân Đồn casino projects must stop allowing eligible Vietnamese citizens to enter casinos until a competent authority issues conclusions in line with the law on casino business operations¹.

What it means for players

Vietnamese citizens are generally not treated the same as foreign passport holders at Vietnam's casinos. Entry for locals has depended on a pilot scheme limited to named projects, and Decree No. 145/2024/NĐ-CP set the point at which the first of those pilots expired, on December 31, 2024¹. For the projects covered by the later resolution, the reported terms are five years from November 26 for Hồ Tràm and five years from the certificate date for Vân Đồn, with entry at Phú Quốc permitted from November 26¹. Eligibility conditions for Vietnamese citizens, and the identification and documentation required at the door, are not set out in the reporting. Foreign visitors and expats holding non-Vietnamese passports are not the subject of these pilot rules, which concern Vietnamese citizens specifically¹. Details of which projects are open to locals, and on what terms, are covered in our guide to who can enter casinos in Vietnam and to whether Vietnamese citizens can enter a casino.

What happens next

Under Decree No. 145/2024/NĐ-CP, once a pilot period ends, enterprises must stop allowing Vietnamese citizens to enter casinos until the Government issues a decree on either terminating or continuing to permit Vietnamese citizens to enter casinos¹.

For Hồ Tràm and Vân Đồn, entry for eligible Vietnamese citizens must stop at the end of the pilot period until a competent authority issues conclusions in line with the law on casino business operations¹. No date has been reported for that decree or for those conclusions.