Enabling legislation still to come
On October 28, residents of Kinmen Island off the coast of Taiwan will vote yea or nay on a referendum that would bring casinos to the island community.
In 2009, Taiwan lifted a 15-year ban in the outlying islands of Kinmen, Matsu and Penghu. The residents of Penghu have voted twice against casinos; in the latest vote, in October 2016, 81 percent of voters opposed such a plan. In a July 2012 referendum, residents of Matsu Island voted to allow casinos in a bid to boost tourism, but the required enabling legislation has stalled at the national level, the Taiwan News reported.
As a result, even if Kinmen approves a casino, the legal framework does not exist for it to open one.
That roadblock aside, Channel News Asia reports that a casino on Kinmen could pave the way for casinos in Taiwan too. The referendum, it added, may be spurred by a drop in Chinese tourist, once a key driver of the local economy.
“Kinmen should develop its own industry,” said Kinmen Council member Tsai Chun-sheng, who initiated the vote. “I don’t want our people to leave their home to become laborers elsewhere. It’s not good to leave your family here and find work away from home.” He says 80,000 islanders—about 60 percent of the registered population—have left Kinmen to find better prospects elsewhere.
But some locals fear the potential downside of a casino. Hung Tu-chin of the Kinmen Anti-gambling Front said, “We think once we introduce the gambling industry into Kinmen, it would draw in a predatory economic system that could cause an irreversible damage for the island. Gambling industry should not be our only choice for local development.”
And Channel NewsAsia reported that most respondents to an informal poll agreed that a casino would be a net negative. Among them was 31-year-old business owner Chen Yu-chi, who said, “I think gambling would create social problems. And it would further jack up property prices. Young people like us already can’t afford to buy houses, what’s going to happen to us if prices continue to go up?”
