The report sent to the National Assembly refers to the improvement of specific bidding conditions for selecting international football betting investors.
Minister of Finance Ho Duc Phoc
According to the report of the Ministry of Finance, in 2017, the Government issued Decree 06 on betting on horse racing, dog racing and international football. For betting on dog racing and horse racing, enterprises are only allowed to conduct betting business when they have investment projects with minimum investment scales of 300 billion VND and 1,000 billion VND, respectively.
The Ministry of Finance coordinates with ministries and sectors to grant betting business licenses after the enterprises have completed their investment in racecourses and have prepared infrastructure facilities to serve betting business.
Regarding international football betting, the Government allows a trial enterprise to operate for a period of 5 years. The Ministry of Finance coordinates with ministries and sectors to organize bidding to select this enterprise according to the regulations on bidding.
In terms of conditions, the selected enterprise must have a minimum charter capital of 1,000 billion VND and a suitable plan for betting system investment and business in accordance with the law.
According to the Ministry of Finance, in terms of the implementation progress of horse racing and dog racing betting, from 2017 to now, 7 provinces and cities have proposed to the Prime Minister to approve the investment policy for horse racing and dog racing betting projects. Currently, the Prime Minister has approved the investment policy for a horse racing project (with betting) in Soc Son district, Hanoi.
However, this project has not been implemented due to difficulties in the capital contribution mechanism from the domestic investor (Hanoi Tourism Corporation) and is under the jurisdiction of Hanoi People’s Committee for resolution. The remaining 6 projects are under the process of requesting the approval of the investment policy. Therefore, no enterprise has been granted a betting business license for horse racing and dog racing yet.
The Ministry of Finance is completing regulations
Regarding international football betting, the Ministry of Finance states that according to the regulations of the law, a trial enterprise for international football betting must be selected through bidding.
The Public Procurement Law of 2013 does not have regulations on bidding to select investors to carry out investment and business projects, so it is not possible to organize bidding to select an enterprise. Therefore, from 2017 to 2022, the Ministry of Finance has coordinated with ministries 5 times to report to the competent authorities about difficulties and to draft a decree to replace Decree 06.
Based on the review of the law, in March 2023, the Prime Minister assigned the Ministry of Finance to complete the decree to replace Decree 06 after the Law on Public Procurement (amended) is issued.
Currently, the Ministry is completing the draft decree to gather opinions from ministries and sectors to specify the specific conditions for bidding to select international football betting investors in accordance with the investment and bidding laws. The Ministry of Finance states that bidding to select an international football betting investor will be carried out according to the regulations of the Public Procurement Law and the decree on betting business.
