On the occasion of the Lunar New Year, people usually gather together to have fun, play cards, gamble, play bau cua, xoc dia, ta la, etc. for money. However, many people do not know that this is a violation against Vietnamese law and can be administratively sanctioned or even criminally prosecuted.
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Specifically, according to Article 26 of the Decree No. 167/2013/NĐ-CP of the Vietnam Government, illegally gambling during Tet holiday with one of the forms such as xi lat, tien len, xoc dia, ta la, to tom, tu lo kho, tam cuc, 3 cay, tu sac or other forms shall be fined as follows:
(1) Buying illegal lottery number shall be imposed a fine of between VND 200,000 and 500,000;
(2) Illegally gambling with one of the forms such as xoc dia, ta la, to tom, tu lo kho, tam cuc, 3 cay, tu sac or other forms which are lost or won in cash or in kind; Gambling with machine or illegal electronic games; Selling illegal lottery sheet or printed matters used for playing illegal lottery; shall be imposed a fine of between VND 2 million and 5 million;
(3) Betting in cash or in other forms in sports competition, entertainment or other activities such as boat racing, football; etc. shall be imposed a fine of between VND 2 million and 5 million;
(4) Enticing, inciting or gathering people for illegal gambling; Using home or accommodation or other means and locations to organize the gambling; Illegally placing gambling or electronic game machine; Organizing illegal betting activities; shall be imposed a fine of between VND 5 million and 10 million;
(5) Organizing the betting in sports competition activities, entertainment or in the other forms to play gambling for money shall be imposed a fine of between VND 10 million and 20 million;
Thus, according to the above regulations, people gather together to play cards and gamble such as xoc dia, ta la, to tom, tu lo kho, tam cuc, 3 cay, tu sac, etc. for money shall be fined from VND 200,000 to VND 20 million depending on the severity of the violation.
Moreover, for gambling with an amount of VND 5 million or more, gamblers can be prosecuted for Gambling. Concurrently, people who have been administratively handled or convicted of gambling-related acts and crimes but continue to commit violations, if they gamble less than VND 5 million, they are still at risk of being criminally handled. Specifically, according to Article 321 of the Criminal Code 2015 of Vietnam (amended by Clause 120 Article 1 of the Law on amendments to the Criminal Code 2017 of Vietnam):
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.
2. This offence committed in any of the following circumstances carries a penalty of 03 - 07 years' imprisonment:
a) The offence is committed in a professional manner;
b) The stake is assessed at VND ≥ 50,000,000;
c) The offence is committed using the Internet, a computer network, telecommunications network or electronic device;
d) Dangerous recidivism.
3. The offender might also be liable to a fine of from VND 10,000,000 to VND 50,000,000.
Above are all the fines that people can be fined when participating, organizing gambling, gambling for money or assets on the Lunar New Year 2021. Therefore, to avoid being fined, people should not gather to play cards, bau cua, etc. in any form and have fun in a healthy way on Tet holidays.
Ty Na
