Vietnam Overseas

VietNamNet Bridge - Domestic online game revenues are estimated to reach 50 million USD this year, according to the Vietnam Software Association (Vinasa).

There are currently 10 online game providers in Vietnam, with FPT, VTC, AsiaSoft and Ha Noi Telecom being the most prominent, Vinasa said, adding that online games originated from the Republic of Korea and China are favorites of young players in the country. At this growth rate, the online game market is forecast to hit 83 million USD by 2010, it further said.
There are currently 10 online game providers in Vietnam, with FPT, VTC, AsiaSoft and Ha Noi Telecom being the most prominent, Vinasa said, adding that online games originated from the Republic of Korea and China are favorites of young players in the country. At this growth rate, the online game market is forecast to hit 83 million USD by 2010, it further said.

(Source: VNA)

Local authorities have received a lot of proposals from investors to develop casinos on their several-billion-dollar resorts. However, the government of Vietnam maintains its consistent standpoint that it does not encourage casino business.

Earlier this year, the HCM City People’s Committee, at a conference discussing issues to develop the city’s tourism, mentioned a plan to call for investment into an entertainment-tourism complex on Binh Quoi-Thanh Da peninsula in Binh Thanh district, which was designed to consist of a hotel, restaurant, water-based entertainment areas, and casino.

In Dong Thap province, the Thai Binh Hotel and Housing Development Company Ltd is also planning to invest in a hotel-casino complex at the Dinh Ba international border gate.

Binh Thuan provincial authorities have received a proposal from Cascadia Home Products Asia Ltd on building and developing a high-grade resort, which consists of a casino in Cu Lao Cau, Tuy Phong district.

Meanwhile, investment brokers say that many foreign investors have sent word, expressing their desire to make investment in big tourism-entertainment complexes, which include casinos. Big entertainment service groups in the world always consider casinos as a main investment item in their projects, in order to attract rich clients, develop luxury services and maximize profit.

An investor (Rockingham Asset Management) from the US is trying to lobby for a project on a $2bil resort with a casino on Phu Quoc Island. Another investor, through an investment promotion company, is planning to develop a high-grade tourism project at the Lao Bao-Quang Tri border gate, which is expected to cost $3bil, including the expenses for a casino.

The Cai Gia-Cat Ba urban area, which has called for investment recently, is also catching the eyes of several investors, who are seeking to develop tourism projects with casinos.

To all these proposals, the government has given only one answer: the building and development of casinos must be implemented in accordance with Notice No 96 dated May 4, 2007 by the Government Office. The notice says that Vietnam will consider granting licenses to build casinos in tourism-entertainment complexes which have the investment capital of $4bil and higher.

Casino jackpot and gambling are currently listed as ’sensitive projects’ which are not encouraged in Vietnam. Casino development has been carried out on a trial basis so far, and casinos all are located in isolated areas and reserved for foreigners only.

In fact, Vietnam does not have any legal documents on casino operations. The licensing of casino projects has been implemented in individual cases and decided upon by the Prime Minister. Currently, gambling business management is being carried out in accordance with Decision No 32/2003 dated February 27, 2003. However, the decision is being amended and stricter regulations will be set up.

There are now four operational casinos in Vietnam, one in Hai Phong, two in Quang Ninh (Loi Lai and Hoang Gia), and one in Lao Cai. The four all are small scale and are open to foreigners only. Licenses on gambling business have been granted to several hotels, while licenses on horse and dog betting have been given to projects in HCM City and Vung Tau.

As requested by the government, the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) is compiling a project on casino development and management and amending Decision No 32/2003 dated February 27, 2003. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Finance (MOF) has been assigned to compile the project on betting business development and management.

The first draft of casino project has been submitted to the government for consideration. The completed version of the draft will be submitted again to the government, which will then be submitted to the Communist Party’s Politburo.

MPI and MOF both said that the government kept a skeptical viewpoint on the issue, which is considered very sensitive. Casino development will only be allowed when casinos are located in isolated areas, and open only for foreigners for easier control.

Regarding the project on betting games, MOF plans to submit it to the government in the fourth quarter of the year. The ministry said that it had to thoroughly consider the possible impact of the project, especially the social impacts. In all cases, the government will maintain very tight control over gambling activities.

Posted VietNamNet Bridge, September 10, 2007, by Phuoc Ha

From zero to having assets worth hundreds of millions US dollar and joining the billionaire club of New Zealand in the near future, that’s the story of a Vietnamese real estate trader in Manukau, New Zealand.

This Vietnamese New Zealand man, 38, earns money from real estate and horseracing and he was recently named on the list of the richest men in New Zealand by National Business Review magazine.

The man, Don Ha, left Vietnam at the age of nine after the Vietnam War. His family went to Hong Kong before settling in New Zealand in 1980.

Don Ha’s family opened a bakery, which became a chain of bakeries in the southern part of Auckland several years later. However, Don Ha didn’t work at his parents’ bakery but became an importer of shoes and belts from Asian countries.

In 1994, he began to get involved in real estate business. So far, he has sold real estate works worth more than $200 million in the southern part of Auckland.

“I want to create a model and I hope any person who is hard-working like me will gain the same results. I want to achieve success of 10, 20 and 100 times more than what I have now,” Don Ha said.

He has recently become involved in horseracing business. At a national auction held in January 2007, he surprised the horseracing circle in New Zealand by buying a young racing horse at a price of $2 million.

Don Ha is developing a horse training establishment in Pukehole. “My ambition is entering the nation’s top ten businessmen in the horseracing business,” he said.

Don Ha is expected to enter the billionaire club of New Zealand very soon, which currently has five individual members only.

“We consider him a billionaire because he currently has around $800 million and other reports say that he is even richer,” said Brett Thompson of National Business Review magazine.

Posted September 6, 2007, Source: VietNamNet/One News

The country’s leading tourism company Saigontourist has unveiled a plan to build some 2,000 more deluxe hotel rooms in the next five years. The company will build and upgrade a number of hotels in HCM City, Ha Noi and other localities in Viet Nam, to increase the number of the company’s high-standard rooms by 50 per cent by 2012, said Saigontourist’s general director Nguyen Huu Tho, at a ground-breaking ceremony to upgrade the four-star Grand Hotel on Dong Khoi Street in HCM City into a five-star hotel on August 11.  “We are focussing on projects to expand and build hotels, office buildings and trade centres, aiming to have at least 6,000 five-star rooms, including rooms at joint-venture projects, in the next five years,” said Tho.  The company will invest US$20 million for the project to upgrade Grand Hotel. Other Saigontourist’s four-star hotels on the list to get a facelift to become five-star facilities in the near future include the Majestic, Kim Do, and Continental hotels in downtown HCM City. 

Tho said the projects on building new hotels and expanding the existing ones would help the company have 1,000 more luxury rooms in 2009.  Saigontourist’s expansion scheme was in line with HCM City authority’s policy to boost hotel development to quickly resolve the shortage of luxury accommodation, said the chairwoman of HCM City People’s Committee, Nguyen Thi Hong. She added that the city authorities would bring out incentives to support companies’ hotel expansion and development projects. 

Given the strong tourism development, HCM City Tourism Department estimated that the city should face a shortage of 14,500 hotel rooms, including 7,000 three-to-five-star rooms by 2010. There are currently 25,500 three- to five-star hotels across the country, including 6,500 in HCM City.   — VNS (by Le Hung Vong and Posted August 20, 2007)