Minister of Finance Ho Duc Phoc
The Ministry made the statement at the 14th session of the National Assembly (NA) Standing Committee on August 10. Referring to gambling crimes, online gambling and betting organizations have been complicated and unpredictable, deputy Pham Van Hoa from the Mekong Delta Province of Dong Thap wondered why the police force has handled many cases, but this situation has not improved.
According to deputy Pham Van Hoa, it is time to allow the implementation of Decree 06/2017/ND-CP on the business of betting on horse racing, greyhound racing, and international football for stricter management as localities can collect tax from such businesses and limit online betting. This Decree has been studied for many years before it was promulgated and took effect in 2017 but has not been implemented so far. He asked why Vietnam has piloted allowing casinos to operate, but not allowed betting.
Minister of Public Security To Lam said that the view of the Ministry of Public Security is that if there is a Government decree, it will be uniformly implemented according to the decree, but currently there is no agency, unit, or enterprise that is eligible to organize sports betting.
Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Van Hung said that before the Law on Sports was promulgated, the Government’s Decree 06 allowed this business to be piloted. In the Decree 06, the Government has assigned the Ministry of Finance to write the draft on the business, while the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism is only assigned to appraise the work, specifically considering the technical aspects and racetrack standards as well as consider with the federations to understand the information to provide to related agencies.
On his part, Minister of Finance Ho Duc Phoc further explained about problems in the implementation of Decree 06/2017/ND-CP on the betting business on horse racing, greyhound racing and international football. Mr. Ho Duc Phuc said that on October 4, 2017, the Ministry of Finance issued Circular No. 101 guiding the implementation of Decree No. 06 2017.
Accordingly, the Prime Minister issued a decision to license the policy of horse racing at the racecourse of Soc Son district of Hanoi in 2020. However, the implementation encountered problems with capital contribution, so it has not been implemented so far. According to regulations, in this field, the Prime Minister will issue a decision on investment policy, the Ministry of Finance will be the authority to issue the certificate of eligibility for the betting business, but till now, no project is completed.
The head of the financial industry added that according to Decree 06/2017/ND-CP of international football betting, a bid must be made to select an enterprise to conduct football betting business.
However, this provision is entangled with the Bidding Law, because in the Bidding Law there is no form of bidding to select enterprises, but only project bidding and project bidding package. Therefore, the Ministry of Finance has consulted the Ministry of Planning and Investment and the Ministry of Justice and has now been assigned by the Prime Minister to amend Decree 06/2017/ND-CP. The Ministry of Finance revised this decree and submitted it to the Government in May.
