VietNamNet Bridge – A number of casino tycoons have visited Vietnam in recent years, promising  to develop multi-billion dollar casino projects in the country, but then they left. Will they return once their demands are satisfied?

One of the investors, Las Vegas Sand, after the first working visit to the country several years ago has returned but they have not had any plan for the casino project in Quang Ninh.

Local media reported that billionaire Sheldon Adelson, Chairman of Las Vegas Sand, raised two questions during his last 10-minute visit and then left Quang Ninh province, where the government is planning to develop the Van Don Economic Zone.

Van Don is a special destination point for many investors because it is a special economic zone with specific operations. This is the only place where the Communist Party’s Politburo has allowed a casino to be built that would be open to Vietnamese citizens.

Besides Adelson, many other casino tycoons have made promises. Malaysia’s Genting Berhard was the first investor who expressed its intention to develop a casino in Van Don, and it was the first investor who then canceled a project.

In late 2013, after quitting the Nam Hoi An casino project, the group also gave up the dream of making money in Van Don.

Analysts commented that casino investors with the most potential are foreign big groups, because Vietnamese investors cannot satisfy the requirements set by laws to open casinos.

Potential investors must invest at least $4 billion in a casino project. There are no legal entities in Vietnam that are able to do the same.

Meanwhile, big foreign groups said they would invest huge amounts of capital only if Vietnam could meet their requirements.

The owner of the US’s biggest casino, Las Vegas Sands, pointed to two problems in Van Don, poor infrastructure and the lack of a transparent legal framework.

When he first came to Vietnam in 2012, the billionaire asked for nine conditions from the government of Vietnam. Of the nine, he asked that airports must be located in the localities where casino projects are to be located; and that Vietnamese citizens be allowed to go to the casino. The government satisfied those requests. However, sources said that this did not mean the US tycoon would return.

The investor was only focused on learning about opportunities to set up casinos in Hanoi or HCM City. He only wanted to put his casinos into central cities with developed infrastructure and good living standards.

However, Vietnam only wants to develop casinos in separate and remote areas, including islands, because the casino projects would help local economies.

Dao Hong Tuyen, a Vietnamese billionaire, who has said that his total assets are worth $2 billion, also planned to develop a casino project.

Tuyen, dubbed “Tuan Chau Island King” for his tourism project on the island, signed a memorandum of understanding with the Australian ISC Group on the development of a $7 billion casino project in 2013. However, there has been no further information about the project.

Pham Huyen