Draft Decree to amend Decree No. 06/2017 / ND-CP: Removing bottlenecks for international football betting

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1. Why is it clarified?

Under the provisions of Decree No. 06/2017 / ND-CP, the matches and tournaments allowed for international football betting business must be international football matches and tournaments announced and approved by the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) (Clause 2, Article 6 and Clause 1, Article 74).

According to this regulation, on March 28, 2018, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism issued Decision 1064 / QD-BVHTTDL to announce a list of nine matches and 15 tournaments of international football competitions selected as a basis for international football betting business in 2018 (phase 1). According to this list, matches of Vietnamese clubs and teams are not selected (under the provisions of Decree No. 06/2017 / ND-CP), most arematches and tournaments in world and continental championships.

However, the list issued by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism created many concerns for fans as well as the political authorities when there are still shortcomings.

Specifically, FIFA only announced football tournaments organized by FIFA and did not approve the list of international football matches and tournaments. FIFA tournaments also do not take place regularly (they are held every 2-4 years), the time for a short tournament is usually 10-30 days per tournament. In addition, the list of tournaments issued in 2018 is not regular, but only takes place at this time.

Obviously, with the low frequency of betting business organizations, while the investment capital is large (minimum charter capital is VND1,000 billion), it is difficult to recover the investment capital within the five-year pilot period, therefore, it is difficult to organize bidding to select enterprises in accordance with the provisions of Decree No. 06/2017 / ND-CP with the above list thatneeds revision.

The absence of many international football competitions which have high professional quality and attract the attention of the majority of fans also significantly reduces the business opportunities of enterprises that have investment needs.

2. How is it clarified?

From the above shortcomings, it is obvious that it is necessary to specify the list of international football matches and tournaments and perform them stably within the five-year pilot period for enterprises to build investment plans and business plans in bidding documents.

According to the draft Decree amending and supplementing Decree 06/2017 / ND-CP, the amendment is conducted in the following directions:

- Matches and tournaments, must be regular, public and transparent ones which are followed by a large number of fans and organized by FIFA or FIFA members.

- The matches and tournaments are performed within a five-year pilot of organizing international football betting business.

The representative of the Ministry of Finance also said that the clarification of matches and tournaments allowed for betting will help enterprises proactively build an international football betting business plan as well as a public and transparentbidding plan; help state management agencies perform management functions as well as supervise and evaluate the effectiveness of the international football betting business pilot process.

3. Which matches and tournaments are allowed for betting?

- National Championships and National Cup of the UK, Spain, Germany, Italy, France;

- European, Asian and American club championships;

- National team championships in Europe, Asia, America, Oceania, Africa;

- World Cup organized by FIFA for men's football, women's football and youth tournaments;

- Matches organized by FIFA, the regional football federation; matches between two teams of two different football federations (at all levels of national teams, young football teams and clubs).