Gambling debts allegedly at root of arson in southern Vietnam | Look At Vietnam

Gambling debts allegedly at root of arson in southern Vietnam 

July 6, 2012

Police in the southern province of Dong Thap are investigating a case in which a man allegedly set his uncle’s house on fire, critically injuring himself and four other people, Tuoi Tre reported Tuesday.
Initial information was that at around 10 p.m. on Monday, Kieu Phuoc Chien, 27, spilled 30 liters of gasoline onto the living room of 53-year-old Nguyen Van Diem’s house, and set it ablaze due to a conflict with his father, Kieu Phuoc Thanh.

The fire injured four people in the family, including Chien’s mother, 51-year-old Nguyen Thi Noi. Diem was injured along with Chien’s uncle, 47-year-old Nguyen Van Hien, and Hien’s son-in-law Nguyen Thanh Tuan, 26.
Chien was also injured, the report said, adding that the fire was extinguished about 30 minutes later thanks to neighbors.
All the victims were rushed to Sa Dec General Hospital. All but Chien were later transferred to Cho Ray Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City for treatment of severe burns, it said

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According to their neighbors, Chien is a gambling addict, who recently lost a lot of money betting on soccer, which led to arguments with his father.
Police are investigating the case further.
During the Euro 2012 soccer tournament, local media have reported cases in which gamblers committed crimes to pay their debts accumulated from betting on the games, or due to personal conflicts arising with family members over their debts.
Last month a man in the central province of Thanh Hoa allegedly killed his wife and five-month-old daughter before committing suicide. The man was said to have quarreled with his wife over his football gambling debts in the past.

Da Nang casino closed

 Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung told Da Nang authorities to temporarily close the casino ran by Silvershore Hoang Dat JV Company to address the firm’s violations.

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Illustration photo from Wayfaring.

The casino can only reopen once Silvershore Hoang Dat meets the conditions requested by the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MoPI).

Da Nang authorities were told to review management of Silvershore Hoang Dat and to closely work with relevant agencies to instruct and supervise this company to deal with violations previously defined by the MoPI.

The Ministries of Finance, Public Security, Labour-War Invalid-Social Affairs, Culture-Sports-Tourism and Foreign Affairs will cooperate with Da Nang to consider and solve the issues related to this casino and hotel.

The Silver Shores International Tourist Site was inaugurated on January 26, 2010 in Da Nang, consisting of a five-star hotel and Vietnam’s largest casino. This was also the largest foreign-invested project in Da Nang in 2006, at $86 million.

Previously, the MoPI asked Da Nang to inspect and supervise the Silver Shores project. According to MoPI, the firm’s license allowed it to have 8 card tables, but it had over 10. The investor also employed a large number of unskilled foreign workers, while Vietnamese law only permits use of foreign experts when the domestic labor market can’t provide workers.

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Cambodian Casino Bankrupts Mekong Delta residents

Cambodian casino bankrupts Mekong Delta residents

The entrance to the Grand Dragon Resort in Cambodia.
Kiem, a Mekong Delta water-lily dealer, just lost all her money at the Grand Dragon Resort casino across the border in Cambodia.

She earns a living buying the plants at the border to resell in An Giang Province and the city of Can Tho. She was waiting to collect her goods at the border when some friends convinced her to visit the casino “just to try it.”

“But I left the casino without any money to continue my business,” she says. “It was terrible.”

The refrain is not uncommon among Vietnamese visitors to the casino just across the river from An Giang’s An Phu District.

Just ask any of the hotel owners or xe om (motorbike taxi) drivers near the Long Binh Border Gate, which leads to Cambodia’s Kandal Province.

A hotel owner in An Phu District says most gamblers come from Ho Chi Minh City and Can Tho. She says they all leave bitterly after losing.

Gamblers crowd the roulette tables at a casino in the Grand Dragon Resort in Cambodia

She says she’s used to rich guests driving up in luxury cars only to leave with their heads down and less luggage.

“A woman from a nearby commune committed suicide recently after her husband piled up billions of dong in gambling debts,” she says.

Gamblers with passports can cross the border legally after a few simple procedures at the border gate, while it is also easy to cross the river-border illegally in small boats for just VND3,000 (US$0.17).

The casino at the Grand Dragon Resort is just a few meters from the riverbank while a number of xe om drivers are always ready to take gamblers to a cock-fighting ring two kilometers away.

Nguyen Van Son, a Vietnamese xe om driver operating near the casino, says his customers are always excited when the day begins, and universally disappointed when they return home.

He says five of his colleagues have lost their motorbikes – and thereby their livelihood – to gambling at the casino.

He points to a hawker peddling Vietnamese pancakes on the street. She used to be a rich woman before she lost it all to the casino, he says.

From losing to losing

Many Vietnamese inside and outside the casino appear to be doing nothing but hanging around after losing all their money.

Lap, a fish dealer from Vietnam, is reluctant to leave. She says she wants to watch other people play after losing more than VND1 million ($56.20) earlier in the day.

She says she knows the right time to stop and usually wins several million dong on visits to the casino.

So, what’s she doing now with no money?

She admits that she’s become addicted and that she lost more than she won on this particular day.

Outside the casino, pawnbrokers lay in wait, always willing to grant loans to gamblers who want to bet their luck on their belongings after losing all their money.

Vietnamese law prohibits Vietnamese citizens from gambling but allows hotels rated four-stars and above to operate casinos for people holding foreign passports.

Reported by Tien Trinh

Vietnamese people spend $2bil/year on betting: MOF

Vietnamese people spend some $2bil a year on football betting, lottery and gambling, cock and buffalo fighting, lottery games on TV and Internet, according to an official from the Ministry of Finance (MOF). The ministry is planning to legalise the extralegal activities, but with very cautious steps.

Illegal gambling everywhere


In a recent survey, MOF found out that illegal gambling activities are being carried out in public under the mode of game shows. The programmes are organised by radio and television, press agencies and internet service providers. The prizes for the programmes are paid in kind or cash with big value after organisers get big profit from the programmes as clients have to pay SMS fees much higher than normal.

The SMS fees for joining the games may reach VND10-15,000/SMS, while the normal level is just VND400/SMS. The financial scales of the programmes are very big. In the World Cup season, organisers can get the turnover of several hundred million VND a day from the messages.

The activities, according to the Ministry of Finance, are illegal if considering the Commercial Law and Decree 37 guiding the implementation of the law.

According to the Ministry of Public Security, illegal gambling activities began increasing in 1996. People bet tens of billion VND on every football match in World Cup season, Euro or British, German, Italian and Spanish champions’ leagues. In the period of 2001-2005 alone, the police discovered 495 cases of gambling involving 4,187 people, seizing over VND10bil, $250,000 and other assets.

more info -->>VietNamNet - Vietnamese people spend $2bil/year on betting: MOF

Vietnam Makes Bet on Gambling

Communist Vietnam is set to become the latest country in Asia to embrace Las Vegas-style casinos, with a Canadian property developer planning to break ground Saturday on the first phase of a $4.5 billion casino-resort project on the nation's southern coast.
The project, called Ho Tram, will be the biggest foreign investment to date in Vietnam, said Michael Aymong, chairman of Toronto-based Asian Coast Development Ltd., the project's lead investor, with a 30% stake. Its main partner in the project is New York hedge fund Harbinger Capital LLC, which has a 25% share.
The initial phase will cost $1.3 billion and consist of two five-star hotels with a combined 2,300 rooms and a casino with approximately 90 gambling tables, 500 slot machines and an area for VIP customers. When completed in 2015, the resort will comprise five hotels with 9,000 rooms and a second casino, Mr. Aymong said.
Ho Tram also will target vacationing families, with features including an 18-hole golf course designed by Greg Norman, a Cirque du Soleil theater, and a site for guests to swim with dolphins.
"It's a needed project in Vietnam" that, in spite of the country's poor infrastructure, will be able to "effectively compete" with integrated resorts in neighboring China, Malaysia and Singapore, Mr. Aymong said.
Vietnam's ruling Communist Party has historically been suspicious of U.S.-style casinos, and many Vietnamese consider gambling a social evil on par with drug abuse. Although a few small, tightly controlled casinos have operated in the country for several years, Ho Tram will be several times larger and represent a big, symbolic step for Vietnam into the capitalist mainstream.
Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung said his government "will create favorable conditions" for Canadian investors, but Ho Tram's casinos will be off-limits to Vietnamese, as are the country's existing casinos.
The casino business is booming in Asia, led by China's glitzy enclave of Macau, the world's No. 1 gambling center in terms of revenue. Singapore is building its own casino-resort complex, and industry players expect Japan and Thailand will soon allow investment in similar projects. Like its neighbors, Vietnam hopes that a luxurious megaresort offering high-stakes gambling will boost tourism and create jobs.
Mr. Aymong said he expects Ho Tram to attract at least two-thirds of its customers from China, together with large numbers from South Korea, Japan and Russia.
Ho Tram will occupy more than 500 acres on a 1.9-mile stretch of beach in Xuyen Moc Commune in Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province, a 90-minute drive southeast of Ho Chi Minh City.
Asian Coast Development has letters of intent from "a couple of international hotel chains" that want to manage the hotels at Ho Tram, Mr. Aymong said, though he declined to name them. The company also is talking with about 10 casino operators that have expressed interest in running the resort's gambling operations, he said, again declining to identify any of these possible partners.
Asian Coast Development is a merchant bank and developer.
Write to Bruce Stanley at bruce.stanley@wsj.com
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