Hanoi - British betting giant Ladbrokes has made a
60-million-dollar offer to form a joint venture with Vietnam's
government for legalized football betting, an official said Thursday.
The proposal, submitted to Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung's office
last week, would set up a gambling commission majority owned by the
government, according to Le Hung Dung, deputy chairman of the Vietnam
Football Federation.
Punters would be limited to maximum bets of 450,000 Vietnamese
dong (28 dollars) under the football gambling scheme.
Gambling has been illegal for decades in Vietnam, decried by the
communist government as a 'social evil' - but it is as common as it
is illegal.
The government began to consider legalizing gambling last year
following a series of high-profile scandals, including an illegal
betting ring that funneled millions of dollars in government
road-building funds into gambling on English Premiership football.
The National Sports Committee last year estimated Vietnam could
generate tens of millions of dollars in profits through legalizing
gambling, money now lost to illegal syndicates.
The prime minister is expected to decide on the proposal in the
next month, according to local newspaper Thanh Nien.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
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