The gambling market in Southeast Asia has been tumultuous in recent years. Since the Philippines began cracking down on illegal gambling POGOs, countries like Cambodia and Thailand have seized the opportunity to gradually promote the legalization of local gambling casinos.
As a strong competitor in this region, whether Vietnam will also follow the legalization steps is worth our attention.
PASA previously introduced the current situation of the Vietnamese gambling market in the article "How to Break the Red Sea Competition Dilemma between Vietnamese Gambling and Macau Gambling, Leading the New Era of Asian Gambling Online!", and pointed out that online casinos will be the winning strategy for regions to stand out from the competition.
Therefore, this article continues to focus on the Vietnamese market, exploring the gambling games that Vietnamese players are most addicted to.
I. Vietnamese Online Gambling Game Market
In past articles, we have introduced that according to Vietnamese regulations, most forms of gambling are illegal in the country.
In 2017, the Vietnamese government gradually launched pilot projects allowing local Vietnamese to enter some casinos, but physical casinos are usually only open to foreign tourists.
Subsequently, in 2018, Vietnam passed a new law allowing limited legal betting on international sports events, especially football, horse racing, and greyhound racing, but these activities are still strictly regulated, and online betting has not yet been fully legalized.
According to data from the World Health Organization, as of 2023, Vietnam's total population is 100.3 million and is steadily growing.
Vietnam's economy has continued to grow in recent years. According to data from the General Statistics Office of Vietnam, in the third quarter of 2024, Vietnam's GDP grew by 7.4% year-on-year, exceeding the previous estimate (6.1%) and also higher than the revised growth rate for the second quarter (7.09%).
In 2022, Vietnam's GDP per capita reached $4,110, although overall Vietnam's GDP per capita is still below the average level of emerging and developing economies ($6,690) and below the GDP per capita levels of some other Southeast Asian countries such as Thailand. However, precisely because of this, the Vietnamese government is more urgent than other countries to revitalize the economy through the legalization of the gambling industry.
Despite strict regulatory restrictions, the gambling industry in Vietnam continues to expand, especially in the online gambling sector.
In recent years, Vietnam's online gambling market has attracted the attention and participation of a large number of international investors.
With the development of the economy and the acceleration of internationalization, Vietnam's gambling industry, especially the online gambling sector, has gradually moved towards internationalization and attracted more and more international investment.
In this context, the Vietnamese government has relaxed its regulatory efforts on the gambling industry, especially adopting more open policies in attracting foreign investment.
This has made Vietnam's online gambling market a new favorite for investors, with many international investors entering Vietnam through real money games.
This investment method is not uncommon in Asia, such as the Rummy real money games in the Indian market or the Pachinko real money games in the Japanese market, which can avoid local government regulation.
According to data from Statista, the total revenue of Vietnamese casino games reached $15.38 million in 2022, and it is expected to achieve $19.90 million in revenue by 2024, which is the part that can be statistically accounted for through regular channels.
According to forecasts, the annual growth rate (CAGR 2022-2029) of total revenue from Vietnamese casino games is 12.82%, and the market size will reach $36.38 million by 2029.
This data is a conservative estimate based on the current situation remaining unchanged. If Vietnam fully opens up online casinos, the total revenue of the Vietnamese market will at least increase by 20 times.
The unaccounted part belongs to the gray area of the Vietnamese gambling market. Vietnamese players usually use technologies such as Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) to access international gambling websites to participate in gambling activities.
These websites are usually located in the Philippines, Malaysia, Cambodia, etc., avoiding Vietnam's domestic legal restrictions. This phenomenon is very common in Vietnam, especially among young people and urban populations.
And this part of the online casino revenue is conservatively estimated to have already exceeded one billion dollars.
With the widespread use of the internet and smartphones in Vietnam, as of early 2024, Vietnam has 78.44 million internet users, with an internet penetration rate of 79.1%.
In January 2024, Vietnam had 72.70 million social media users, accounting for 73.3% of the total population. Vietnam has 168.5 million active cellular mobile connections, which is equivalent to 169.8% of the total population. (Each Vietnamese user has at least two mobile devices)
The high penetration of the internet and mobile phones has also allowed the online gambling industry to develop more rapidly in Vietnam.
So, to invest in this emerging market in Vietnam, we need to understand the preferences of Vietnamese players clearly and choose specific tracks based on their preferences.
II. The Top Five Most Popular Gambling Types in Vietnam
The popular gambling games today actually have a long history of development and have evolved into various diverse forms according to the cultures of different countries.
Due to Vietnam's proximity to mainland China, it has also integrated many gambling games with Chinese cultural characteristics. Below, PASA will list some of the most popular gambling game types in Vietnam one by one.
1. Fish Prawn Crab
Fish Prawn Crab, also known as Fish Prawn Crab Sic Bo, is called Bầu cua cá cọp in Vietnamese, a quite traditional gambling game.
It is said that the origin of Fish Prawn Crab is in southern China, and later, as history evolved, Fish Prawn Crab spread to Vietnam. Especially during the Lunar New Year, almost every household in Vietnam plays the Fish Prawn Crab gambling game as New Year entertainment.
Fish Prawn Crab is not only popular in Vietnam, but some casinos also have this game. Although Fish Prawn Crab is not as well-known as Sic Bo, it has become popular in Vietnam due to its approachable gameplay and rules, which allow people to easily start playing, which is also the reason why Fish Prawn Crab started to become popular in Vietnam.
The difficulty of making this game into a real money game is also not high.
2. Vietnamese Color Dish
Vietnamese Color Dish (Xóc Đĩa), mainly originated in Vietnam, in fact, has been familiar in the local streets and alleys of Vietnam since 1909 or even earlier.
It is said that it first became popular in southern Vietnam. Initially, local Vietnamese could use readily available household utensils to play this simple gambling game. Just cover the four two-colored buttons on the plate with a bowl, shake it, and use the resulting combination for betting. It is very simple and easy to understand. Also, because it is simple to understand and the required utensils are very convenient, it quickly became popular.
Vietnamese Color Dish suddenly became popular online in 2019 during the Covid-19 pandemic, and it is definitely the hottest among many local games.
Therefore, the most game merchants entering Vietnam through this type of real money game have the most, and the sales are also the best.
3. Poker
In addition to the popular games in the Vietnamese local market, other popular gambling games, such as poker, cannot be ignored. Almost all players in any region are addicted to the charm of poker.
The following are several poker games most popular among Vietnamese players: Texas Hold’em, Omaha Poker, 7 Card Stud, Five Card Draw, Pai Gow Poker, Baccarat.
These well-known poker games have become very common as real money games, and the competition in this track is basically not about game development capabilities, but about deployment.
Therefore, for the deployment of casino games in the Vietnamese market, PASA will write another article to guide everyone later.
4. Lottery
Lottery, also a popular gambling game worldwide, also has a very large number of lottery players in Vietnam.
For the types of lottery gameplay, PASA has also written related articles in the past, "Global TOP9, Online Lottery Platforms That Make Money While Lying Down! This Niche Track Actually Hides a Fortune-Making Opportunity!?", everyone can review it and refer to the various types of gameplay in it.
Of course, the relatively popular type in Vietnam is the lotto-type lottery, but due to the unique large prize mechanism of the lottery, no matter how many more types of gameplay are developed, as long as it revolves around specific large prizes, it can maintain enough players.
5. Football Sports Betting
Vietnamese people have a very high level of passion for football. Among many sports, football is the most popular among Vietnamese users.
According to an online survey, users interested in football are three times that of other sports. Vietnam has 83% of sports enthusiasts, and half of them are avid football fans.
Whether in rural rice fields, beaches, or urban alleys, squares, or even crossroads, you can see Vietnamese people playing football, which also lays the foundation for Vietnamese football sports betting.
According to Labbrokes, a British company, the total sales of non-domestic football betting in Vietnam are estimated to account for 3-5% of Vietnam's total GDP (equivalent to $10 billion), and most of these betting funds flow abroad every year.
It is evident that everyone in Vietnam likes gambling, so setting up a sports betting platform for Vietnamese users would be a good choice.
Conclusion
The above are the top five most popular gambling game types in Vietnam. In recent years, with the rapid development of the online casino industry, the revenue of the online gaming market in Southeast Asia has already reached $6 billion by 2024.
As a country with a population of 100 million and a high internet penetration rate, Vietnam's growth rate will inevitably be in a leading position.
Although Vietnam has not yet fully opened up its legal online gambling market, it is still possible to enter the Vietnamese market through real money games or package networks.
And with the Vietnamese government's emphasis on the gambling industry, the legalization of the local gambling market is also expected to be successfully implemented in the near future.
Indeed, entering a completely different regional market, localization is a necessary step, including the use of local languages, providing local currency payments, and a deep understanding of the types of online gambling games that Vietnamese players love, to stand firm in the Southeast Asian online gambling market without worries.
We look forward to discussing more unique insights about the Vietnamese online gambling market with our readers and invite you to follow the global iGaming leader's overseas information platform PASA to get more first-hand industry information.
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