Hoa Sen University
Vatel International Business School Hotel & Tourism Management
CASINO TOURISM
IN VIETNAM
Submitted by:
NGUYEN THUC THUY TIEN LE THAO NGUYEN
NGUYEN THANH TRUC VU NGOC PHUONG THU
LE MINH HIEN TA NGUYEN MINH NGAN
MC3 – 2019
Date: 3 May 2021
I. INDUSTRY ANALYSIS:
1. Market dynamics and patterns:
Vietnam is located in South East Asia with the S shape bordering Cambodia, China, and Laos
with water borders with the Gulf of Thailand, Gulf of Tonkin, and South China.
Vietnam intrigues worldwide casino organizations because it has a long-term economic
development strategy and a 90 million people supporting the booming gaming industry, which
is now mostly seen at border casinos and domestic underground games. Along with the rest of
the country, the north registered 15 gambling establishments, 6 in the middle, and 24 in the
south, for a total of 45. With a tropical climate, a pair of UNESCO and Natural World Heritage
sites, more than 3,400 kilometers of coastline, much of its sea shore lined, Vietnam has
incredible potential as a tourist destination that gambling organization can enhance. The
Chinese remain the biggest share of visitors representing 22% followed by Koreans and
Japanese. (Muhammad, 2017).
2. Customers and clients:
The casinos rely heavily on traveling from neighboring Asian countries, especially Chinese
and Korean players. As a country with a ‘walking’ border with China, its gaming field can be
huge (Kihara, Nakano, & Onishi, 2020).
Communist Party managed Vietnam already has eight casinos for foreign passport holders
only. To expand on the scale necessary to compete internationally, investors want a local
customer base. Vietnam wants to encourage investment by allowing limited local play. The
new decree, reportedly nearly a decade in making, permits citizens to enter casinos if they can
show monthly income exceeding 10 million VND (US $449) and are charge a 1 million VND
entry tax (Muhammad, 2017). Players must be at least 21 years of age, have the permission
from their family to do so and not have a criminal record, with the minimum bet set at 1000
VND and a maximum of 1 million per day.
3. Products and competitions:
The largest hotel-casino in Vietnam as of
2017 was the Grand
– Ho Tram strip. It is controlled by an
American and opened in 2013. The US $1
billion building has up to 1100 rooms hotel and operated an 18-hole golf course (Lee, Kim ,
Han , & Wong, 2020).
The Hoi An South IR in central Vietnam, majority owned by the family of late Hong Kong
billionaire Cheng Yu-tung through
Chow Tai Fook Enterprises, with
minority partners Macau junket
operator Suncity Group and local
investor Vinacap, and an expanding
Banyan Tree resort near Hue are
both likely to apply once they’ve
reached the investment threshold and
can accommodate guests (Muhammad, 2017).
The Corona Resort & Casino on the island of Phu Quoc in Kien Giang Province was selected
first to enact such measures in
January 2019. It attracted a total of
105,200 guests of which 47,400,
or 45% were Vietnamese citizens.
The Corona’s 2019 revenue hit
US$61.7 million, giving it close to
60% of overall market (Grammer,
2020).
Hue and Cam Ranh are two locations under consideration for the resort projects. Hue is located
in the central of Vietnam which is the potential invested by Banyan Tree holdings from
Singapore. Hung Thinh Real Estate proposes a casino in the tourist resort which is located on
Camranh coastline.
On the other hand, 5-star hotels are also a booming sector. Specifically, if Starwood hotels and
resorts already operated 4 casinos in Sheraton Nha Trang, Hanoi, and Saigon, Renaissance,
and Le Meridien Saigon. Hyatt has 2 in Saigon and Da Nang. New world has one in Saigon.
4. Benchmarks:
Vietnam’s eight operational casinos produced a revenue of US $107.4 million out of 2019, up
60% from the earlier year (Grammer, 2020).
Five of the casinos are located in the north, two in the central region and one in the South,
collectively contributing US$58 million state’s coffers last year, up 49% year-on-year.
(Grammer, 2020)
5. Suppliers:
Success Dragon International, the largest unified service provider for outsourcing management
solutions for the gaming industry with headquarters in Hong Kong with offices in Macau and
Vietnam. They help the casino business manage slots and plan a series of slot machine projects
in Vietnam related to slots and video game management contracts.
II. MARKET SIZE – TARGET MARKET:
1. Niche target market:
Gambling was strictly prohibited in Vietnam by the communist government, and although
restrictions were eased in the 1990s, they remain incredibly stringent today. There are hefty
fine on gambling operators who open up illegally although that hasn’t stopped a grey area of
operation and a growing number of Vietnamese who like to gamble in underground facilities
