Taiwan to grant casino permits?

"The roulette table pays nobody except him that keeps it. Nevertheless a passion for gaming is common, though a passion for keeping roulette tables is unknown." -- Bernard Shaw

AFX is reporting via Forbes that Taiwan plans to issue three permits for casinos.

The government plans to issue three casino permits in a bid to help promote tourism, local newspapers reported, citing a proposal by an Executive Yuan panel.

The maximum charter period has been set at 20 years, with operators required to pay a fee equivalent to 40 pct of their revenue, according to the proposal.

The stake to be taken by foreign investors in any such venture will be capped at 60 pct.

'Installing casinos is not the ultimate purpose; instead, it is meant to grow the tourism industry,' Council for Economic Planning and Development Chairwoman Ho Mei-yueh said in an Economic Daily News report.

The CEPD is due to come up with a final version of the statute governing casino operations in October, she said in a Commercial Times report.

Policy thinking in Taiwan is often terribly conventional, and turning to casinos to stimulate "tourism" is a good example. The government has long been discussing building casinos in the Penghu Islands, and recently offered to establish horse and auto racing in southern Taiwan, more as an election ploy than as a serious development plan:

Responding to a media report that the Cabinet is planning to open sports car racing and horse racing in central and southern Taiwan, the ruling party chief said Friday that his party will back the project as long as it stimulates local economies and benefits the people.

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairman Yu Shyi-kun made the comments while answering questions from reporters after it was reported a day earlier that the Executive Yuan is expected to allow competitive race events to be held in central and southern Taiwan beginning in June.

Chang Ching-sen, vice chairman of the Cabinet-level Council for Economic Planning and Development, told CNA Thursday that opening sports car racing and horse racing will be a boon for seven cities and counties in central and southern regions as well as the offshore county of Penghu, but particularly the central Yunlin County.

Car racing is likely to be opened first as it requires no revisions to
existing laws, Chang said.

In anticipation of legalization, local hospitality universities have begun to introduce courses in gambling and casino management.

The lottery was instituted several years ago and after some initial craziness, has become an institution. We had neighbors who make a living manufacturing and selling pamphlets based on some complex numerological system for beating the lottery. The Taiwan Revue article noted:

"Lotteries are permitted in countries where gambling is illegal, because rational people understand that the chance of winning is close to nil, and they therefore won't devote too much time or money to it," says Yang Shou-jung. "Only extremely irrational people or those with mental problems actually believe they can 'control' the numbers and consequently put in everything they have. Unfortunately, it seems we have more such people in Taiwan than in most other places."

Taiwan has a large number of underground casinos run by organized crime, and it seems everyone has a family member who has run up massive debts and either fled into hiding or destroyed his family's fortune trying to pay them.

Before you complain that this will not help Taiwan's industries, although it is little known, Taiwan already boasts an international reputation in the manufacture of gaming machines and gaming machine parts and components. Taiwan's skills with software, optoelectronics, chips, motherboards, and other infotech has enabled it to carve out a strong export niche in gambling machines, online gaming, and parts such as coin and bill acceptors. All those crane machines and kiddie rides you see in the night markets? They're the flotsam of that industry, not its main market.

[Taiwan]