Kinmen residents readying October vote
As residents of Kinmen County, Taiwan, plan an October vote on casino gaming, legislators in the country are looking to put an end to such referendums. According to GGRAsia, a quartet of lawmakers from the Democratic Progressive Party want to delete Article 10-2 of the Offshore Islands Development Act, which states a casino resort can be opened as long as more than half of voters approve.
In 2009, a 15-year moratorium on casino gaming on Taiwan’s outlying islands of Matsu, Kinmen and Penghu was lifted with the approval of the amended Offshore Islands Development Act. Casinos remain illegal on the main island of Taiwan.
As yet, no casinos have been developed on the island chains. In a 2012 referendum, residents of Matsu voted in favor of casino resorts in hopes of attracting tourists and boosting the local economy. But the required enabling legislation has stalled at the national level, the Taiwan News reported. The residents of Penghu have voted twice against casinos; in the latest vote, in October 2016, 81 percent of voters opposed such a plan.
DPP legislator Lin Ching-yi told Taiwan’s Central News Agency that the referendums have proven futile and are a waste of administrative resources. She has been joined in her opposition by fellow party members Yang Yao, Chen Man-li and Wu Yu-chin. Yang, who represents Penghu, said any casino on an outlying island of Taiwan would be dependent on Mainland Chinese patrons. He called it a model that could easily lead to failure because of a “lack of competitiveness” with other jurisdictions.
Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen of the DPP has also expressed her party’s opposition to casinos in the nation. Registered residents in Kinmen amount to 140,000, though only 60,000 people actually live on the island.
