Taiwanese government proposes removal of referendums on island casinos

ers of Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) have today proposed the abolition of an article in the country’s Offshore Islands Development Act which currently allows for the possible opening of casinos on many of Taiwan’s outlying islands.

An outright ban on commercial casino gambling on Taiwan’s outlying island chains of Matsu, Kimmen and Penghu was partially lifted in 2009 by the Taiwanese government, but commercial gambling remains illegal in Taiwan itself.

The 2009 amendment to the Offshore Island Development Act allows for the opening of casino resorts on the islands providing that fifty percent of the population agrees to do so in a referendum.

In the first of these referendums in 2009, residents of the Penghu island voted 56.4% against the idea of opening a casino on the island chain. A second referendum in October 2016 resulted in a larger vote against the opening of a casino with 81% voting against it.

However, in a referendum in July 2012, residents of the Matsu island chain successfully voted in favour of opening a casino resort as a way of attracting tourism and boosting the local economy.

There have also been recent reports that officials from the Kuomintang political party have filed a petition with the Kimmen County Government for the establishment of a casino on the island chain, with that referendum due to take place in October 2017.

Lin Ching-yi, one of the four DPP members who proposed the abolition of the need for referendum's to take place on the islands as it would avoid “further waste of administrative resources” saying that "gaming was not a concept supported either by popular opinion in Taiwan or by trends in the regional industry".

The proposal was submitted to the Economics Committee of Taiwan’s single-chamber parliament, the Legislative Yuan. The committee is responsible for reviewing such a proposal before it can be sent for a second reading by the Taiwan parliament.