The Ministry of Finance is seeking opinions on the draft Decree on horse racing, dog racing and international football betting business, replacing Decree 06 issued 8 years ago. One of the notable points is the proposal to adjust the maximum bet by day instead of by product.
According to the draft, players will be allowed to bet on international football up to 10 million VND per day, instead of 1 million VND for each type of product as at present. The minimum level remains at 10,000 VND. Currently, on average, an international football match has about 10-15 betting products such as scores, number of free cards, number of corner kicks, player scoring first... If according to the new regulations, the total daily bet will be limited to 10 million VND for all products, instead of being up to 10-15 million VND as before.
The Ministry of Finance also sets out stricter conditions for participants. Players must be 21 years old, have full civil act capacity and are required to open an account at a betting business enterprise. All betting, payment and reward activities will be done through this account to ensure identification and control cash flow.
Currently, matches that are allowed to be betting businesses are tournaments announced and approved by FIFA, including the World E-Football Tournament (Esport). However, this number of tournaments only ranges from 4-8 tournaments per year, the organization period lasts 10-30 days, causing betting business activities to be interrupted and making it difficult to attract investors. Therefore, the draft allows businesses to decide on betting products based on scores and events in matches, rounds or tournaments, as long as they are in accordance with the regulations and rules registered with the management agency.
In addition, due to the time-based difference with international tournaments, the drafting agency proposed adding the form of online betting via the Internet. The enterprise will be allowed to decide on the time to open and pay to receive the bet.
Another new point is the draft allowing businesses to bet to promote their logos, identification images, and post advertisements on the official website. Decree 06 currently completely prohibits this advertising activity.
For exploitation rights, enterprises must buy copyrights when using images or results of FIFA or FIFA member matches and tournaments. The regulation does not apply to tournaments organized by the Vietnam Football Federation.
The Ministry of Finance also proposed to only allow a business to pilot international football betting business within 5 years, because this field can have a great impact on security, order and social safety if not strictly controlled.
Recently, many illegal football betting rings with a scale of thousands of billions of VND have been dismantled by the police. The revenue of the illegal betting market in Vietnam is estimated at tens of billions of USD, the State cannot manage cash flow as well as tax revenue.
According to the Ministry of Finance, compared to the time of issuance of Decree 06 (2016), Vietnam's per capita income has increased more than 1.8 times, to 4,700 USD/year. Limiting the maximum bet is expected to help players avoid being discouraged, while creating a foundation to build a strict legal corridor.
Experts say that when there is a suitable mechanism, legalizing part of betting activities will help the State manage better, have more budget revenue, while people have legal entertainment options instead of looking for illegal channels.
