Taiwan casino scenarios now envision Taipei
The Taipei skyline
Legal casinos on Taiwan proper have The prospect was highlighted recently on the basis of “certain comments made by multiple mainland Chinese officials charged with Taiwan-related issues and echoed by Taiwan’s transportation minister,” said Union Gaming Research Macau in a note to investors.
“Given this dynamic, any casino built in Taiwan would therefore largely be dependent on locals, which means that only a casino built near population centers, such as Taipei, would make sense—and only if locals are allowed to gamble,” stated the Macau-based investment brokerage, which added that Transportation Minister Yeh Kuang Shih has suggested to the national legislature that casinos be permitted in a special economic zone near Taoyuan Airport in the capital city.emerged as a possibility in the wake of statements out of China that mainland residents will not be permitted to visit any gambling venues that might be developed in the country, which Beijing considers a renegade province.
The Transportation and Communications Ministry is charged with implementing casinos in Taiwan.
Opening Taipei to gaming, while not government policy, is contained in an alternative legalization bill proposed by lawmakers with the governing Kuomintang Party, according to UGRM.
What this means for the islands in the Taiwan Strait where casinos appear to be headed is not certain.
Transportation Minister Yeh Kuang Shih has suggested that casinos be permitted in a special economic zone near Taoyuan Airport in the capital city.
The guiding legislation, the Offshore Islands Development Act, was passed in 2009 to allow residents of the Matsu, Kinmen and Penghu archipelagos to vote on casinos. Last summer, the residents of Matsu, a tiny island chain located just off the mainland province of Fujian, voted in favor, initiating a process by which the Legislative Yuan, as the national lawmaking body is known, was empowered to develop a framework for licensing and regulation.
Weidner Resorts, headed by US gaming industry veteran William Weidner, a former president of Las Vegas Sands, has proposed investing several billions of dollars in a mixed-use resort complex on Matsu that would include expanding the island’s limited transportation infrastructure and watertreatment and power-generating capabilities.
Draft regulations for Matsu have been under consideration since the spring but do not appear to be moving forward. At the same time, if access to mainland players is not a possibility it’s not likely that gaming on any of the outlying islands would succeed. This is not the case with Taiwan proper, and Taipei especially, given the city’s sizable population of upwards of 9 million.
Terry Gou, head of Foxconn Technology Group and one of Taiwan’s wealthiest citizens, suggested earlier this year that a special casino enclave be developed near the capital. Premier Jiang Yi Huah described the proposal at the time as “problematic”.
