Taiwan to allow up to two casino resorts
Posted: 15 March 2009 1856 hrs

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TAIPEI: Taiwan has taken another step forward in a move to lift a decades-old ban on casinos after it was decided no more than two gambling resorts would be licensed at the beginning, it was reported Sunday.

The ruling Kuomintang (KMT), who control the legislature, pushed through a controversial bill in Parliament in January to lift the ban on casinos despite fears it could lead to more crime and damage morality.

The bill allows offshore islands to build casinos only if they are approved by residents in referendums.

Developers who win a licence would be required to build a hotel with a minimum of 1,000 rooms according to the result arrived at Saturday during a meeting of government agencies, the Chinese-language China Times reported.

The agencies also decided that the government would not issue the third licence within 10 years of licensing the second one to "avoid competition and reduce possible social impacts," the report said.

Officials say it may take a year for government agencies to amend the existing law and complete investment requirements and screening procedures.

Hundreds of activists from religious and environmental protection groups took to the Taipei streets Sunday to demonstrate against casinos.

"President Ma Ying-jeou, who has distinguished himself as a politician of high moral standards, should have a second thought on the matter," Ho Tsung-hsun, one of the protest leaders, told AFP.

"The experience of other countries introducing casinos indicated that they would boost the domestic crime rates," he said.

British developer AMZ Holdings Plc and Taiwan's Penghu Bay Development Co., have been preparing land for casino projects in Penghu, the archipelago located in the middle of the Taiwan Strait, the Penghu county government said earlier.

Penghu hopes to attract half a million tourist visits each year, generating 100 billion Taiwan dollars' worth of revenue annually in gambling and tourism, and creating up to 50,000 jobs.

Local media has speculated that the world's casino giants would pour money into Penghu having suffered a hammering elsewhere in the global financial crisis.

- AFP/yt