Licensing and regulation: Can we get a licence?

Government approval granted 26 November 2025 extended Vietnam's locals-allowed casino pilot to Grand Ho Tram Strip, making it the second venue, after Corona Resort & Casino, at which Vietnamese nationals may be admitted, under the authority of Resolution No. 8/2025/NQ-CP. This is an administrative-resolution expansion of an existing pilot exception rather than a change to the underlying casino-licensing statute. The general casino-investment licensing framework continues to be governed by Decree No. 03/2017/ND-CP, which sets a minimum capital commitment of US$2,000,000,000 for casino investment integrated into a resort complex; this decree-level capital requirement is unchanged and remains the structural entry barrier beneath the narrower locals-pilot exception. Together, the two instruments describe a two-tier framework: a foreign-facing casino-licensing regime built on the capital floor, and a citizen-facing pilot layer expanded, venue by venue, through resolution-level government approval.