6 casinos, 10 lottery companies to be inspected

The Ministry of Finance has just approved the Plan to inspect lottery business activities, electronic games with prizes for foreigners and casinos in 2024.

This year, the Ministry of Finance plans to inspect 10 lottery companies, 11 businesses that operate prize-winning games for foreigners, and 6 casino companies. These are conditional business lines that need to be strictly managed.

Currently, the country has 63 local lottery companies and one computer company operating since 2017. These companies are all state-owned enterprises.

The list of lottery companies included in the inspection plan includes 4 companies in the North (Lao Cai, Yen Bai, Thai Nguyen, Bac Giang), 4 in the Central region (Quang Nam, Da Nang, Quang Ngai, Kon Tum) and 2 in the South (Binh Thuan, Ben Tre). The management agency will inspect the lottery issuance business and compliance with financial management regulations of these enterprises.

For casino businesses, the first casino that allows Vietnamese people to play in Phu Quoc, invested by Phu Quoc Tourism Investment and Development Joint Stock Company, is also included in the inspection plan. This casino recently announced an accumulated loss of 3,720 billion VND after 4 years of operation, due to large depreciation costs and interest payable.

With 11 companies operating electronic games with prizes for foreigners, the Ministry of Finance will inspect compliance with conditions for granting business certificates, regulations on organizing business activities, and preventing and combating money laundering.

Currently, the market for prize-winning games has 69 business locations nationwide. Every year, provincial People's Committees also regularly inspect businesses in the area. To date, 10 provincial People's Committees have inspected 20 businesses that operate prize-winning electronic games for foreigners.

In particular, the management agency discovered that some locations such as Sheraton Nha Trang Hotel and Pullman Vung Tau were used for gambling. The electronic game business locations with prizes for foreigners basically met the business conditions.