Taichung city councilors have demanded that the city government establish a local ordinance to manage themed restaurants, to which Taichung Mayor Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕) responded by saying that she would instead endeavor to shut down every one of the restaurants that is contravening gambling regulations.
City councilors across party lines broached the subject at a council meeting on Friday, with Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taichung City Councilor Lai Chia-wei (賴佳微) showing pictures of the interior of a restaurant featuring dice and cards, as well as a picture of children watching adults clustered around a gambling table.
“The picture demonstrates that even minors are allowed to enter,” Lai said, alleging that as long as children had money, even they could have a seat at the table.
Photo provided by Democratic Progressive Party Councilor Lai Chia-wei
She said that Taichung is rapidly becoming a city of vice and sin, home to an illicit sex trade and gambling.
One can easily find more than 20 casino-themed restaurants on Facebook, many of which only provide an address after a person adds them on the messaging app Line, Lai said.
Many of them hire good-looking women as dealers, she added.
Lai urged the municipality to place themed restaurants under regulation, just as cybercafes are.
There are three such restaurants in the Dali (大里) and Wufeng (霧峰) districts, People First Party Taichung City Councilor Tuan Wei-yu (段緯宇) said, adding that the local police precinct received a report that someone lost NT$10 million (US$322,144) at one establishment.
The city government was not enforcing the Ministry of Economic Affairs’ regulations and the establishments — of which there are seven in the municipality — that do not comply with those regulations should be shut down, he added.
DPP Taichung City Councilor Chiang Chao-kuo (江肇國) questioned the city government’s attitude toward the restaurants and said its lax standards regarding restaurant permit applications was the reason such restaurants kept making a comeback.
In response, Taichung City Police Department Commissioner Yang Yuan-ming (楊源明) said that of the 12 casino-themed restaurants being watched by the municipality, five have been implicated in illicit activities.
City councilors called for swift action after Economic Development Bureau Director Chang Feng-yuan’s (張?源) said that the bureau would need three months to find a reason to shut down the restaurants as there is no legal precedent.
However, Lu said that there would be no need to draft a local ordinance, and said she would ask agencies to work together to close down the casino-themed restaurants that are a cover for gambling.
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