Ministry of Finance proposes new rules on horse racing, dog racing and international football betting

Vietnam's Ministry of Finance is drafting a decree to amend Decree 06/2017/ND-CP of 24/01/2017 on betting on horse racing, dog racing and international football, and has opened the draft for public comment¹. The ministry said the draft aims to complete rules on betting business and state management and to create a clear, transparent business environment¹.

Under Decree 06, horse and dog betting businesses may only take bets on races at racecourses the business itself organizes, and betting must run no more than three days a week (Article 6 and clause 1 of Article 15)¹. The ministry said racecourse, betting system, horses and dogs carry large investment and operating costs, and Vietnam's tropical climate affects race scheduling, so a three-day-a-week limit on self-organized races makes it hard to recover investment¹. The draft would let businesses decide their own betting products, based on finishing order and events during a race, and would allow them to use races held abroad: horse races run by the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities (IFHA) or its members, and Greyhound races in national league systems¹. Businesses would have to buy the rights to use race images and results¹.

For international football, Decree 06 requires permitted competitions to be published and approved by FIFA, with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism publishing the list of matches and tournaments¹. The draft would allow matches and tournaments organized by FIFA or FIFA members, excluding esports football and matches or tournaments organized by the Vietnam Football Federation¹. The ministry said one international football match carries about 10 to 15 different betting products¹.

On limits, Decree 06 sets a minimum stake of VND 10,000 per bet and a maximum of VND 1 million per product per player per day¹. The draft keeps the VND 10,000 minimum and raises the maximum to VND 10 million per player per day¹. Betting would run through a player account opened at the betting business, linked to a payment account and e-wallet owned by the player, with betting, payment and payouts through that account to identify players and control limits¹.

What it means for players

The changes are proposals, not rules in force. Until a new decree is issued, the existing limits and the ban on betting on races organized outside a licensed operator's own racecourse still apply. If adopted, players at licensed Vietnamese betting businesses would have a wider menu: foreign horse and Greyhound races and a larger set of international football matches, including competitions run by FIFA member federations rather than only FIFA itself. The daily ceiling per player would rise tenfold, from VND 1 million to VND 10 million, while the minimum stake stays at VND 10,000. Betting would be tied to an identified account linked to the player's own payment account or e-wallet, which the ministry says is meant to control how much a player stakes. Matches and tournaments organized by the Vietnam Football Federation, and esports football, would remain outside the permitted list. See Horse Racing and Betting in Vietnam and Can I Gamble in Vietnam? for the current framework, and Where Horse Racing Betting Is Legal in Asia for how Vietnam compares with its neighbors.

What happens next

The Ministry of Finance is collecting public comments on the draft through its online portal². No date for issuance of the decree, and no date for when any new limits or permitted events would take effect, has been reported¹.