Vietnam Citizens To Be Barred From New CasinoMassive Project To Open In 2013 To Country's Tourists |
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If you live in Vietnam you won’t be allowed to gamble at the country’s massive new casino set to open next year. The country’s Ministry of Finance maintains that only foreigners and Vietnamese living in other countries will be allowed on the gaming floor, according to Tuoi Tre News.
In other words, about 88 million locals living within close proximity to the casino can’t play. However, the property will have non-gambling amenities such as restaurants.
Canada’s Asian Coast Development Ltd. is behind the $4 billion project, and Nevada-based giant MGM Resorts International will manage the property, which is located on a beach-front strip of land. The CEO of the Canadian company used to work as an executive at MGM.
The gambling destination will be the first of its kind in the country, but four more “large-scale luxury resorts” are planned to eventually be constructed.
An economist told Tuoi Tre News that additional casinos shouldn’t be built in cultural centers or areas with a high population density. Some are worried about the ills of big business casino gambling. An expert cited negative effects of Singapore casinos.
The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this month that the government of Singapore has started charging locals US$80 a day to enter casinos, in an effort to keep out the broke.
The MGM Grand in Vietnam will go as far as to use helicopters to transport tourists in major metropolitan areas to the property, ACDL’s CEO Lloyd Nathan told Inside Asian Gaming. Additionally, more lanes have been added to some roads in the country.
According to ACDL, about six million people now visit Vietnam annually, with another three million Vietnamese (with foreign passports) living abroad.
In addition to the money to be made from the “emerging [economic] tiger,” ACDL has called Vietnam “one of the most captivating places on Earth.”
An United Nations report stated that Vietnam has been experiencing growth that has lifted the poverty rate from 58 percent in 1993 to 16 percent in 2006, about the same rate as the U.S.
Photo dated Sept. 12, 2012, via Asiancoastdevelopment.com.
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