Police in Vietnam Raids Casinos

Police in Ho Chi Minh City raided five casinos and arrested more than 80 Vietnamese gamblers and 10 casino organizers, including one American, officials said Monday.

Along with the 81 Vietnamese, some 100 foreigners – including citizens of South Korea, China, Taiwan and Malaysia – had been gambling at the casinos when they were raided on Sunday, said the police. The Vietnamese gamblers were arrested, but later released.

The casinos were accused of illegally allowing Vietnamese citizens to place bets, according to the police. Casinos catering to foreigners are permitted in Vietnam, but are barred from allowing Vietnamese to gamble.

The 10 casino organizers, including the US citizen, are being held pending charges on gambling-related offenses.

The casinos were located in four hotels and a restaurant.

“Those places are only licensed to operate slot machines, and only foreigners are allowed to play there,” said Hoang Tan Viet, deputy director of the Social Crimes Department of the Ministry of Public Security in Ho Chi Minh City.

“However, when we raided them, many of the people there were Vietnamese, and they were not playing slot machines. They were playing roulette, blackjack, and many other types of games.”

The casinos had been set up over a year ago by an underworld figure named Luong Cam Huy, reported Thanh Nien. The paper quoted a police lieutenant as saying that Huy is a former associate of Ho Chi Minh City mafia boss Nam Cam, who was executed for murder and bribery in 2004.

Vietnam’s government officially considers gambling a “social evil.” But betting on football matches, illegal lotteries, cockfights and other games is widespread.

In March, police in Hanoi arrested 124 gamblers at an illegal backyard dice game. In January, several of the country’s top football players were convicted in a match-fixing scandal.

Meanwhile, the former director of a Transportation Ministry construction unit, Bui Tien Dung, is awaiting trial on corruption charges related to his involvement in millions of dollars worth of football betting.

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