Members of the Anti-Gambling Legislation Alliance (AGLA) yesterday called on the Ministry of Transportation and Communications to allocate the same amount of money it has spent hiring private firms to draft the gambling act and regulations for integrated resorts to anti-gambling experts to evaluate the negative impact of the gambling industry on the nation.
The ministry has entrusted Macao-based Ocean Technology Group with the task of formulating regulations governing the review of the international resort investment projects. The law firm Lin and Partners is in charge of drafting the gambling act.
Calling the ministry the “Ministry of Gambling,” alliance members held a small presentation comparing Minister of Transportation and Communications Mao Chi-kuo (毛治國) to a king who rules the country by gambling. Mao’s given name “Chi-kuo” means “to rule the country” in Chinese.
Photo: Lin Cheng-kung, Taipei Times
AGLA spokesperson Ho Tsung-hsun (何宗勳) said asking Ocean Technology to stipulate regulations related to integrated resorts was like asking a fox to guard the hen house, because the company’s core business is to plan and consult on the development of integrated casinos.
Ho said most of the experts who attended seminars on the matter supported the development of the gambling industry and tended to discuss the issue from the perspective of investors.
“Though the ministry emphasized that it held seminars on the outlying islands to hear from residents and explain the gambling act to them, the seminars focused on introductions of gambling tourism and only presented the general ideas of the gambling act,” Ho said. “One really has to question the true purpose of those seminars.”
While the ministry said Taiwan would follow the experiences of Singapore, Ho said no comprehensive evaluation of the environment, infrastructure and cultures of offshore islands had been conducted before it was decided that integrated resorts would be built there.
There was also no mention was made of any negative impact on Singapore after it allowed integrated resorts to be built on Sentosa Island and Marina Bay, he said.
“The real question is: Can gambling really boost the economy of the offshore islands?” Ho asked, adding that whether the ministry had sufficient authority to regulate the gambling industry was also questionable.
Ho said the evaluation of the feasibility of building integrated resorts on the outlying islands should be carried by anti-gambling experts, who are entitled to the same amount of funds used for the research done by two private firms.
Public hearings should also be held in Kinmen, Penghu and Matsu, he said.
Because Matsu is scheduled to hold a referendum on gambling at the end of this year, Ho said the government should hold at least three public debates on gambling in Matsu before the referendum.
On behalf of the ministry, Tourism Bureau Chief Secretary Chang Hsi-tsung (張錫聰) accepted the petition from the protesters.
He said the gambling act and the regulations on the integrated resorts were drafted based on an amendment to the Offshore Islands Development Act (離島建設條例) passed by the legislature in 2009.
Chang said that any casino had to be built as part of an international resort and could not operate as an independent entity.
“Whether such a resort can be built needs to be decided through referendums,” Chang said, adding that local governments could decide if such referendums were necessary.
Even if an integrated resort project was passed by referendum, Chang said that the bureau would still have to evaluate and approve the project.
Penghu County held the nation’s first referendum on gambling two years ago, with about 56 percent of the residents voting against allowing a casino.
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