Personal income taxes on income from casino winnings are likely to be abolished in Vietnam, according to local media outlet VietnamNet, citing reports from Vietnam’s parliament.

However, the loss to U.S. tax authorities, estimated at US$9.52 million per year, is likely offset by a five percentage point increase in special excise taxes applied to gambling. This could increase from 30% to 35%.

If Congress approves the increase, it could add 517 billion VND (US$24.62 million) to the annual state budget, according to figures cited by VietnamNet.

Taxes on Vietnamese casinos include a 30% special excise tax on gambling, 22% corporate tax (which will be reduced to 20% from 2016) and 10% VAT, according to Vietnam’s finance ministry.

In fact, the 30% excise tax on gambling usually applies only to public market play. Because local gambling is currently prohibited inside Vietnamese casinos, the venue is mostly chasing foreign high rollers, with tax credits on the segment.

Stephen Schumaker, chairman and chief executive of Asia Coast Development (Canada) Inc., developer and owner of the Grand Ho Tram Casino Resort southeast of Ho Chi Minh City, said in a recent interview with GGRAsia: “Through our overseas tour operator [junkit] business, we have effectively structured a deal on chip discounts, and those discounts are deducted for tax purposes.”

The idea of the discount system is to encourage more foreign players to come to Korea, he said.

The executive added that for VIP Play, taxes were paid on the net discounted gross gaming revenue.

“Depending on that level, we are considering effective tax rates between 11% and 13% [when playing VIP],” he said.

According to VietnamNet, casinos are currently taxed at 10% and lottery jackpot is over 10 million VND. 무료슬롯사이트

However, Treasury Secretary Dean Thien Deng reportedly said it was difficult to tax people because it was “impossible” to determine their winnings.