The way to determine the amount used for gambling in Vietnam

Judgment 45/2018/HS-ST dated June 21, 2018 for gambling will be an example related to the above content.

"At about 12 o'clock on February 23, 2018 after eating and drinking, D was born in 1986, H was born in 1975 and Th was born in 1984 and Ph invited each other to play leeches. The betting rate for each game is from 20,000 VND to 200,000 VND (depending on the player).

At 16.30 on the same day, the police of Yen Thanh district discovered and caught him and seized the money on the mat of 2,750,000 VND, the amount of money in D's body was 3,500,000 VND, H's was 1,000,000 VND, of Th 400,000 VND.

At the Investigation Agency, subjects D, H, Th and Ph all admitted to gambling in the form of shocks and proved that the amount of money used for gambling purposes was VND 6,250,000. Specifically, Nguyen Xuan D uses VND 4,500,000, Nguyen Dinh Th uses VND 800,000, Nguyen Xuan H uses VND 500,000, Nguyen Xuan Ph uses VND 450,000.”

Article 321. Criminal Code 2015 amended and supplemented in 2017 stipulates:

"1. A person who illegally gambles in any shape or form with the stakes (in cash or kind) assessed at from VND 5,000,000 to under VND 50,000,000, or under VND 5,000,000 despite the fact that he/she has incurred an administrative penalty for the same offence or any of the offences specified in Article 322 hereof or has an unspent conviction for the same offence or any of the offences specified in Article 322 hereof shall be liable to a fine of from VND 20,000,000 to VND 100,000,000, face a penalty of up to 03 year's community sentence or 06 - 36 months' imprisonment.”

So gambling will be criminally handled when losing with money or valuables in kind:

+ From 5,000,000 VND or more

+ Under VND 5,000,000 but has been administratively sanctioned or sentenced, has not yet been expunged but still commits violations.

Therefore, although gambling for money with a small amount of money, the participants have been administratively handled or have been convicted without having their criminal records cleared for the crimes of gambling, organizing gambling or gambling. Silver is still subject to criminal prosecution. If not in the cases mentioned above, the act of gambling for money, if detected, will be handled according to administrative law.

According to the provisions of Decree 167/2013/ND-CP on sanctioning of administrative violations in the field of social security, order and safety; Prevention of social evils; fire prevention and fighting; domestic violence prevention

2. A fine of between VND 1,000,000 and 2,000,000 shall be imposed for one of the following gambling acts:

a) Illegally gambling in one of the forms such as jockey, sloppy, shrimp nest, dandelion, three-tree, four-color, red-black, chess or other forms that win or lose by money, in kind;

…

How to determine the gambling amount? Is this the total amount on the casino or does it include the money that the participants brought with them? This is specifically guided in accordance with Clause 3, Article 1 of Resolution 01/2010/NQ-HDTP

3. “Money or kind used for gambling” includes:

a) Money or artifacts used for gambling confiscated directly at the casino;

b) Money or kind of money seized from gamblers, which has grounds to determine that it has been or will be used for gambling;

c) Money or artifacts seized in other places where there are sufficient grounds to determine that it has been or will be used for gambling.

Therefore, the basis for determining the crime of gambling is not only the money directly collected at the casino. In case the amount of money and property carried by each person, if the competent authority can prove that such property will be used for gambling, it will still be considered as gambling property.

Please Login to be able to download