New regulations in Vietnam will only allow large five-star hotels to apply for casino licences, a move designed to slow down the expansion of gambling linked to hotels.
Hotels with less than five stars have been left out of new conditions that should become law by next month (October).
Under a government decree, only five-star or luxury tourist accommodation facilities ranked by competent state agencies are allowed to establish a casino business on any scale.
Most of the casinos operating in hotels are simple affairs restricted to just slot machines. But the new rule limits one slot machine to every five rooms and that will effectively exclude smaller properties. Enterprises will be fined or even lose their licences if they violate the regulation.
Currently, many three and four-star hotels in Ho Chi Minh City and some in the provinces are operating small casinos with 75 to 100 slot machines. Under the new decree they will only be allowed to continue if they reduce these numbers. The authorities hope the restriction will force smaller hotels to withdraw from the business.
