By Ben Blaschke
Taiwan’s Kinmen County, the latest offshore island to consider a referendum on casino development, faces an uphill battle to achieve that dream according to an expert on the matter.
Bill Bryson, a US lawyer with 25 years of experience practicing in Taipei, believes there will likely be too many barriers to a Kinmen County integrated resort becoming a reality including the ruling DPP party’s long-standing opposition to casino gaming.
It follows news on Wednesday that Kinmen County is set to vote on whether to permit casino development in October after a Kuomintang official filed a petition with the Kinmen County Government to hold a referendum.
From what I have seen, it looks like the Kinmen referendum process is in its first stages, as it appears that they are still gathering the required signatures,” Mr Bryson told Inside Asian Gaming. “Assuming that enough signatures are gathered, it is not a slam dunk that the referendum will pass. The people of Kinmen have always been a little dubious as to whether or not the island needs casinos, since it already derives substantial tax revenues from the Kaoliang distillery there. And the island’s population is not poor, so there is less necessity and therefore less incentive for the residents of Kinmen to desire the establishment of casinos there.”
Even if the referendum passes, Mr Bryson pointed to both the government’s reluctance and the example of nearby Matsu as other compelling reasons to remain dubious about any major progress.
In 2012, Matsu voted yes in its casino referendum, but under current law the actual legalization of casinos also requires another bill to be passed by Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan. The subsequent Tourism Casino Administration Act was drafted in 2013 but four years on is yet to progress any further.
“It is unlikely that the DPP government would pass the draft casino gaming law,” Bryson said of the stalled bill. “The KMT government was unwilling to do so for Matsu, so one is justified in wondering whether a DPP government would be willing to do so for Kinmen. It is therefore entirely possible that Kinmen could wind up with the same result as Matsu – consent from its residents but no support from the national government.
Nevertheless, Bryson said that Kinmen County remains very much on the radar for international casino investors given its close proximity to China.
“Many of the same investors who are currently looking at Japan also used to see Kinmen as their first choice of venue in Taiwan,” he said.
