Vietnam temporarily suspends casino, lottery service from April 1 on virus fears

The decision was made as part of the country’s efforts to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

Lottery is among sectors contributing greatly to the country’s State budget. Thanh Nien newspaper cited data from the Ministry of Finance as saying the Southern region accounts for 90% of the market share.

In 2019, revenue from the region reached over VND101 trillion ($4.3 billion), contributing VND30.7 trillion ($1.3 billion) to the State budget, an increase of nearly 16% compared to 2018, beating yearly target by over 20%.

The Ho Chi Minh City Lottery One-member Co., Ltd. Reported a pre-tax profit of more than VND1.3 trillion ($56 million) in 2019, submitting to the state budget more than VND3.2 trillion ($137.7 million).

Traditional lottery tickets solve a large amount of freelance labor, creating jobs for many people. However, the service could be the source of infection of the Covid-19 epidemic, government officials said.

In addition, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc requested to temporarily stop all of incoming flights to Vietnam while limiting flights between Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City with other provinces’ airports in the next 2 weeks.

As of Sunday afternoon, Vietnam has confirmed 179 infections with 21 have completely recovered and were discharged from hospitals.

The pandemic development has become serious recent days. Within only 20 days, there were 137 new cases in 23 provinces and cities, health ministry reported.

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