Under the new draft decree on casino management, the Ministry of Finance has proposed that regular members at local casino clubs must make at least VND15 million per month and that irregular patrons most prove their assets.

The Ministry may have settled on the numbers, but enforcing these restrictions may prove difficult. 

Some like Nguyen Truong Son, chair of Bao San Group, pointed to the golf-club method wherein players buy membership cards at a cost of $50,000-100,000, reports Vietnam Net.

But analysts in Vietnam say that the paper trail can only be traced so far, making it difficult to determine the actual finances of any given player.

Prof Ha Ton Vinh, an expert on the issue, said that the country should follow in the path of Singapore where native-born players have to pay $100 for every admission and up to $2,000 per year.

Vinh added that taxes should also deter those of “modest financial capability” from frequenting casinos. Vietnam plans to impose a tax rate of 62%, by far the highest in the region - the Macau administration taxes 39.5 percent on revenue, the highest tax rate, while South Korea taxes 10 percent.

There seem to be more questions than answers when it comes to regulating access to Vietnamese casinos. 

[Vietnam Net // Photo via Markus Ortner]