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Vietnam’s gaming landscape witnessed a significant shift on Monday as The Grand Ho Tram officially opened its casino doors to local citizens. The transition marks the property’s evolution from a foreigner-only establishment to a dual-market operator, following a recent regulatory breakthrough. Sources close to the operation confirmed that the first domestic guests were welcomed onto the gaming floor around midday, just over a month after the central government formally approved the resort’s participation in a pilot program for local gambling.
Expanding Access for Vietnamese Nationals
The authorization places The Grand Ho Tram in an exclusive tier of gaming venues within the country. It is now only the second casino in Vietnam permitted to accept bets from local players, joining the Corona Resort & Casino in Phu Quoc. Under the government’s framework, these approvals are granted as part of a five-year pilot scheme designed to test the economic and social viability of domestic gaming. While a third integrated resort currently under development in Van Don has also secured permission to join this pilot initiative, that project is not scheduled for completion until 2032. Consequently, Ho Tram’s entry into the local market represents the only immediate expansion of domestic gambling access in the region.
Reports indicate that the transition was comprehensive, with all slot machines and gaming tables on the main floor made available for local use immediately upon the midday launch. This anticipated move was due to the property being only 2 hours away by car from Vietnam’s primary economic center, Ho Chi Minh City, which puts the property within a reasonably easy reach of a fairly large domestic marketing base.
Corporate Growth & Management
It has taken quite a lot of corporate restructuring to reach this point. Originally opening its doors in 2013 with an initial investment of US$500 million, the resort was first developed by US hedge fund giant Harbinger Capital. The ownership structure changed drastically in July 2019 when private equity firm Warburg Pincus acquired a majority interest in the resort’s parent company, Asian Coast Development Ltd.
After acquiring the property, Warburg Pincus Real Estate began to reshape and define the future direction of the property and installed a new management team under Walt Power, an experienced executive with a successful record in the Macau gaming industry in January 2020. The new management has provided renewed focus on operational efficiency and growth within the marketplace and has successfully received approval to serve the local community population.
The Future Investments in Infrastructure
The operational change coincides with the expansion of the Grand Ho Tram Resort and is part of the resort’s overall master plan for the future. This master plan is estimated to take US$4.2 billion over a 30-year development cycle to complete a fully integrated or multi-functional resort that consists of 9,000 hotel rooms, 2,200 residential villas, an expanded retail opportunity, and an 18-hole golf course. While the casino, golf course, and two original hotel towers opened when the resort was launched, the rest of the facilities are still being developed.
The Grand Ho Tram recently broke ground on a massive expansion valued at $1 billion. The new 35-hectare expansion is designed to improve the current non-gaming resort offerings at Grand Ho Tram. This new phase of development will include a brand new five-star hotel and numerous luxury resort-style villas. In addition, to facilitate the notion of making Grand Ho Tram a preferred choice for business travelers, additional construction of an international exhibition and convention centre and other entertainment venues will be part of this new expansion effort. As the capital investment shows, the operators of the Grand Ho Tram have faith in the long-term potential of the Vietnamese market and continued growth of the domestic market.
Source: Inside Asian Gaming (IAG)
