It is November and temperatures have been fluctuating, up and down unpredictably.  Northern parts of Japan and China have started seeing snow.  Like changes in weather, the gaming referendum in Taiwan this time has given people the shivers.  Once upon a time, many international casino operators had high hopes of Taiwan and expected that the amendment to the “Offshore Islands Development Act” legalizing the establishment of casinos would become the first key for Taiwan to open up casinos on its outlying islands.  The offshore islands of Taiwan, which included Penghu, Matsu and Kinmen, have hotly discussed casino development.  Other areas of Taiwan like Tamsui of New Taipei City, Taoyuan Aerotropolis, Taichung and Kaohsiung have proposed the idea of developing a special gaming zone in the past, but it is a mission impossible on the policy front to build a casino on the main island of Taiwan.  Therefore, for Taiwan to open up casino development, Penghu was most favored by foreign investors.  However, the first referendum held by Penghu on gaming in 2009 failed and in the second gaming referendum in 2016 the Penghu residents also used their votes to reject the establishment of casinos.

Now many territories in Asia are proactively developing the gaming industry.  Japan, Korea, Vietnam and Mongolia all are adjusting policies to moderately embrace tourism gaming and taking more liberal steps to snatch up business opportunities.  Many policies of Taiwan are subject to political influence and the party in power tends to promote its own party policies.  Moreover, the sentiment that gaming is considered a taboo still prevails in society, so casino development could only be limited to outlying islands.  Penghu has chosen to develop tourism with its existing maritime resources and refused gaming to land on the shore.  Although Matsu gave a green light to gaming in its referendum, the central government has failed to come out with supporting policies, which has hindered investors and in the end thwarted the possibility of Taiwan building its first tourism casino.

Under trade liberalization, tariff barriers are broken down and everyone could usher in a free market with an open-minded mentality.  Competition is maximized and brought to the entire international arena where rough battles take place and enterprises are given an opportunity to transform and become stronger and larger or instead being eliminated.  Adopting the principle of protection, some countries and enterprises refuse to open the door of trading and are actively cultivating their own industries to become number one of the countries and solidify their footholds before seizing opportunities to expand global presence.  There is no right or wrong when it comes to choosing to open up or not.  By the same token, casino development can bring prosperity and problems as well.  However, it seems that tourism casinos have become farther away from Taiwan!?

※The article is published in the GTI Magazine Issue No. 148 in November, 2016