Vietnam Seeks Bids to Manage Country’s $2.2B Van Don Casino Resort

Posted on: December 1, 2023, 12:50h. 

Last updated on: December 2, 2023, 12:50h.

Devin O'Connor @CasinoorgDevinO Read More
Expertise: Asia Pacific Gaming, Commercial Gaming, Legislation, Politics.

The Vietnam government hopes to field interest from potential casino operators for its forthcoming $2.18 billion integrated resort casino.

Vietnam casino resort Van Don
An illustration showing the locations of the three Special Economic Zones in Vietnam. The Vietnamese government is readying to invest nearly $2.2 billion to build an integrated resort and casino in Van Don. (Image: ASEAN Post)

Vietnam’s Ministry of Planning and Investment last week announced new details on the government’s planned investment to open an integrated resort in the Special Economic Zone of Van Don in the Quang Ninh Province. First announced in 2017, the Van Don casino is to be one of two casinos open to residents of the Southeast Asian country.

The Planning and Investment Ministry says the Van Don casino destination will be a VN$51.55 trillion (US$2.18 billion) undertaking. The casino will be expected to generate an annual tax benefit of VN$8.16 trillion (US$336 million).

In a further commentary on the project, the Quang Ninh Provincial People’s Council this week said a development partner and management firm will be selected through a competitive bidding process.

State-Sponsored Casinos

The Van Don casino resort in the Quang Ninh Province’s SEZ will complement the Corona Resort & Casino, which opened in 2019 in Phu Quoc City in Southwestern Vietnam.

The Kien Giang Province casino has 1,000 slots and 100 table games. The $2.1 billion resort features more than 3,000 five-star guest rooms, 20 restaurants and bars, an 18-hole golf course, an amusement park, and a wildlife conservation park.

The project was developed by the Phu Quoc Tourism Investment and Development Company in partnership with Vietnamese conglomerate Vingroup Company. The casino is today operated by Netherlands-based Upfinnity Gaming Management. It was previously run by Suncity Group.

Van Don is located in the northeastern corner of Vietnam, near the China border. With casino gambling prohibited everywhere in China other than in the Special Administrative Region of Macau, the Vietnamese government plans to cater to Chinese tourists with its nearly $2.2 billion casino in Quang Ninh.

Ministry officials say the IR will encompass about 550 acres. The local government expects that building the sprawling resort will take nine years to complete, with a projected opening date of sometime around 2032.

Along with the resort and casino facilities, the $2.2 billion budget will include the construction of high-end residences.

Vietnam Gaming Industry

Along with Corona in the southwestern corner of Vietnam, the country is home to eight casino resorts reserved for guests holding foreign passports. Gross gaming revenue (GGR) totaled more than $600 million last year.

Vietnam’s commercial gaming industry continues to grow, with annual revenues climbing nearly 10% per year. With China cracking down on mainland residents traveling to Macau to gamble, analysts say other Asian markets, including Vietnam, are poised for significant growth.

“Driven by Chinese government crackdowns from the casino enclave of Macau, some organizers of VIP gambling tours — known as junkets — appear to be enduring the storm, while also transferring business elsewhere in their regional networks. In Vietnam, locally owned gambling operators are restyling themselves to snap up Chinese whales of their own, potentially cutting deeper into the besieged junkets,” Vietnamese journalist Coby Hobbs wrote last month in the Southeast Asia Globe.