~ Le Viêt Nam, aujourd'hui. ~
The Vietnam News

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[Year 2002]

Vietnam gets the gambling bug

At a time when the Vietnamese government is reaping publicity for its drive to crack down on underground casinos, it is quietly moving to expand legal gambling. In early June, two state-owned hotels in Ho Chi Minh City--the historic Rex Hotel and the First Hotel--obtained licences to install slot machines on their premises.

The machines can only be legally played by foreigners and ethnic Vietnamese with foreign passports. While Hanoi has previously allowed a Taiwanese-owned casino to operate in the northern beach resort of Do Son and permitted more than a dozen joint-venture hotels around the country to operate slot machines, this is the first time the privilege has been granted to state-owned hotels. Besides pumping more money into local and national coffers, the gambit aims to meet the "entertainment needs" of potential foreign investors in other businesses in Vietnam, according to a Finance Ministry official. The move comes as the government continues a drive to close illegal gambling dens affiliated with local organized crime and allegedly protected by some police.

The Far Eastern Economic Review - June 27, 2002