Minister of Public Security To Lam says that the government’s decree on betting is expected to help reduce illegal online betting.

At the Q&A session of the National Assembly’s Steering Committee about issues under the management of the public security sector, Pham Van Hoa, a National Assembly’s deputy, said the crimes of gambling, organizing gambling and online betting are complicated.

The police have handled a lot of gambling cases, but the number of cases has not decreased, while the crimes have become more and more sophisticated.

“Please tell us about the reasons behind this. It is the right time for Vietnam to implement the decree on betting management, so as to be able to more strictly control betting activities and to collect tax from bettors. What is your viewpoint?” Hoa asked.

In reply, Lam said his ministry recently has implemented many plans and solutions to fight and suppress crimes and gained encouraging results. In H1 2022 alone, 600 defendants were prosecuted in gambling cases.

However, Lam admitted that the situation remains complicated. Most of the servers for online gambling are located overseas, which makes it difficult to thoroughly handle the cases. Once a gambling ring is destroyed, another one turne up.

It is also difficult to collect evidence against illegal gamblers because of anonymity. Technology is used to commit crimes.

In the coming time, MPS will deploy solutions to prevent and fight against criminals and organizations in cyberspace. The ministry also plans to step up the work on gambling websites and organizations in Vietnam, and strictly handling violators, especially the leaders.

Online payments have been exploited to gamble online, because it is still difficult to manage the subjects.

MPS will also improve the efficiency of coordination with the police of other countries in dealing with online gambling and gambling, especially in information sharing, coordination for verification, evidence collection, and investigation coordination.

Not satisfied with the answer, Hoa asked why the government’s decree on betting, which took effect in 2017, still has not been implemented in reality.

“Vietnam has allowed Vietnamese people to go to casinos under a pilot program. Why hasn’t betting been implemented?” he said.

Explaining this, Lam said appropriate agencies and the Ministry of Finance (MOF) still cannot find a unit or agency to work as a focal point.

“Our viewpoint is that once government’s decrees are promulgated, they must be implemented. However, the problem is that to date, there has been no agency or business that can meet the requirements to organize sports betting,” Lam said.

Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Van Hung said that before the Law on Sports was promulgated, the government’s Decree 06 in 2017 allowed sports betting on a trial basis. The decree assigned MOF to preside over the implementation.

This is a conditional business field, therefore betting activities have not taken place, though activities have been legalized.

He went on to stress that MOF is the presiding agency, while the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST) is only in charge of ensuring technical requirements.

MOF Minister Ho Duc Phoc confirmed that in 2017, the government promulgated Decree 06 on the management of betting on dog and horse races, and international football. Later, MOF issued Circular 101, guiding implementation of Decree 06.

Regarding betting on horse racing, in 2020, the Prime Minister agreed on the establishment of a racecourse in Soc Son district. However, when implementing the project, problems have arisen related to the capital contribution of Hanoitourism. The project still cannot proceed.

In principle, the Prime Minister makes decisions on investment policy, while MOF will grant certificates on meeting requirements for organizing betting.

According to Phoc, Phu Yen, Lam Dong and Vinh Phuc are considering developing horse race courses. However, they are still in the study period and no dossier has been submitted.

Regarding bets on international betting, Decree 06 stipulates that businesses need to be invited to bids to select one enterprise to come forward to do business in football betting. 

However, the regulation isn't in line with the Law on Bidding. The law doesn’t have any provisions stipulating the form of bidding to choose businesses, but only has provisions about the bidding of project packages.

MOF has consulted with the Ministry of Planning and Investment and Ministry of Justice and obtained agreements from them. MOF submitted the draft decree, which amends Decree 06, in May 2022.

Thu Hang