Officials from the Thừa Thiên-Huế Province in North Central Vietnam have asked the country’s government to give the nod to the addition of a casino to the Banyan Tree Lang Cô integrated resort.
Reportedly, Florida-headquartered casino and café chain operator Hard Rock International has lodged interest in operating the gambling venue. The company has recently walked out of a joint venture with Hong Kong’s Melco International Development for the construction of a casino resort in the Republic of Cyprus and became the sole candidate for a property of this type in Spain.
Vietnamese media outlets have reported that Thừa Thiên-Huế officials have also requested a permission for Lang Cô developers to increase the investment capital for their resort to $2 billion and to open a casino venue as part of the 692-acre project. The company behind the ambitious plan has previously registered the amount of $875 million in initial capital.
The resort will thus seek to become part of the recently introduced pilot plan, under which the government will allow certain Vietnamese casinos to admit local players to their premises. Vietnamese nationals are currently prohibited from playing at local casinos. The pilot plan will help the government review the state of the country’s casino industry and possibly revise the ban on local players.
Minimum investment capital of $2 billion was among the requirements posed by lawmakers in order for an operator to be able to join the three-year pilot program. Initially, two casinos – one in the Quảng Ninh Province and the other on the Phú Quốc island – were approved for the plan. However, construction work on both properties is yet to commence.
According to local media, the Ministries of Defense and of Culture, Sports, and Tourism have approved Banyan Tree Lang Cô’s casino proposal. It is believed that the gambling venue will be launched with Phase Two of the masterplan. It will thus be swing its doors open by 2020 and will feature 500 slot machines and 50 table games.
Phase One of the resort was launched in 2013 with 57 villas, a 229-room hotel, a conference center, and an 18-hole golf course, designed by English golf professional Nick Faldo. Under development plans, the resort will add two more five-star hotels by 2020 with a total of 1,000 rooms, as well as more than 1,600 villas. More villas and hotel rooms are planned to be included by 2025. The whole complex is expected to be completed by 2030 with 1,000 more hotel rooms in two five-star hotels as well as 315 villas.
