Inside Asian Gaming

IAG MAY 2022年5月 亞博匯 62 have a foreigner come in when we’ve got it at our back door? IAG: Finally Shaun, do you believe we will ever see the locals gaming market truly opened up in Vietnam? SM: I honestly think it’s a long way down the trackbeforewe see that. There are four social evils considered in the Vietnamese culture and gambling is probably the first one along with drugs, prostitution – the usual suspects. Until the Politburo changes its thinking, I don’t think it will happen. We have to look at the government structure in Vietnam where the Politburo is like the Board of Directors and the Prime Minister’s office and the other ministries are like the executive. They simply follow the directive of the Politburo and if the Politburo doesn’t give the final sign-off then nothing is going to happen. That is the story of Vietnam. Nothing happens without the say so of the Politburo, and there are a lot of anti-gambling people in the Politburo. IN FOCUS