Only days after Taiwan’s legislative assembly voted to allow casino resorts in some outlying islands, one of the Taiwan’s biggest pop stars claims her own sister left her broke because of gambling debts.
Jody Chiang Hui says she has lost all her life savings because of her elder sibling, whom she alleges has been gambling heavily in Macau.
A conspiracy theorist might wonder if it as merely an unhappy coincidence that news of Ms Chiang’s misfortune broke only days after the Taiwan casino vote, given that her sister has allegedly been fond of a flutter and a little trigger happy with her fortune for some years.
The Straits Times in Singapore says Taiwan police started investigations after Ms Chiang said in her blog she had been harassed by debt collectors looking for her sister. They reportedly left a note on her car and turned up at her record and production companies demanding that she pays up.
Chiang’s sister allegedly failed to return around NT$20 million that she had reportedly borrowed from three friends to gamble with in Macau, said Apple Daily, quoting a creditor.
Apple Daily added Ms Chiang estimated she has lost as much as NT$100 million in earnings over her 28-year career.