There are laws but betting on World Cup 2018 in Vietnam is not allowed

A representative of the Ministry of Finance said that up to this point, all international football betting activities in Vietnam are still illegal.

Laws, decrees and circulars already exist

While the revised Law on Sports had not yet been submitted to the National Assembly, on January 24, 2017, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc signed and issued Decree 06 on horse racing, dog racing and international football betting business. The Decree took effect from March 31, 2017. The Decree allows for a pilot international football betting business in Vietnam.

Specifically, Vietnamese citizens aged 21 and over and with full civil capacity as prescribed by law can participate in betting. The minimum bet is 10,000 VND per time and the maximum is 1 million VND/day for 1 betting product.

The products traded for betting are "match scores, rounds, events occurring during the match and rankings in the tournament".

The matches and tournaments selected as the basis for international football betting business must be international football matches and tournaments announced and approved by the World Football Federation (FIFA).

Pursuant to Decree 06, dated March 28, 2018, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism issued a circular on the list of international football matches and tournaments announced and approved by FIFA to be selected as the basis for international football betting business in 2018 in Vietnam.

Accordingly, 15 international football tournaments were selected as betting business products in Vietnam, including the 2018 World Cup in Russia, the 18th Asiad in Indonesia, and the AFF Suzuki Cup in November and December, where the Vietnamese team participated.

Sports betting was included in the revised Law on Physical Training and Sports and was passed by the National Assembly on June 14, 2018 with 93.84% of delegates approving.

Not licensed for business

However, the 2018 World Cup has opened, but Vietnamese citizens still cannot bet on matches taking place on Russian pitches.

The reason is, if you want to do football betting business in Vietnam, the most important thing is to license the business to do international football betting.

The Ministry of Finance's leaders said that up to this point, no unit has been selected to conduct international football betting business in Vietnam.

Because there are no licensed businesses for betting, all international football betting activities in Vietnam, including the 2018 World Cup, will not be able to take place.

According to Decree 06, only one enterprise is allowed to organize international football betting business, the pilot business period is 5 years.

After the pilot period, the Government will summarize and evaluate to decide whether to continue or possibly terminate. The condition for this enterprise to be allowed to conduct betting business in Vietnam is to have a minimum charter capital of 1,000 billion VND.

Not sure when it can start...

According to the Prime Minister's decision, the Ministry of Finance will preside over and coordinate with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the Ministry of Planning and Investment, and the Ministry of Public Security to organize a bidding process to select a qualified enterprise to pilot international football betting business.

The winning bidder must then submit an application for a certificate of eligibility to conduct international soccer betting. If this certificate is granted, it will officially be allowed to conduct international soccer betting in Vietnam.

A leader of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said that the ministry has completed the tasks assigned by the Government in Decree 06, the remaining work is the responsibility of the Ministry of Finance.

This leader shared: "Up to this point, we have not yet chosen a betting business, so we do not know when betting activities will be carried out. When the law does not allow it, I hope everyone does not bet through betting channels because that is a violation of the law. The World Cup season has begun, each fan should be clear-headed to enjoy football in joy."