Taiwan update

chichow

Well-Known Member
#1
First round of casino has been denied.

TAIPEI -- Residents of Penghu County, a group of islands off southwestern Taiwan, rejected a government proposal to build a casino resort in a referendum Saturday, according to Taiwan's Central Election Commission.

In the referendum, only 13,397 of the islands' 73,651 eligible voters, or 43.6%, supported the government's plan, which is aimed at boosting tourism, the commission said.

The result of the referendum means the Taiwanese government will have to wait for three years to conduct another referendum on the same topic, Chang Jui-Tung, director-general of the Penghu County government's Civil Affairs Bureau said.

The Penghu Election Commission, which falls under the Central Election Commission, decided in mid-August to hold the vote after receiving a petition from around 3,800 Penghu residents requesting a referendum on the project, Chang said last week.

A tender held by the Tourism Agency Sept. 21 to select a consultant for the casino resort project received two bids from foreign companies, but both were rejected because they didn't provide all the required documents, an official at the agency who declined to be named said Friday.

He wouldn't identify the two companies, but said the agency will hold another tender around early October.
 

chichow

Well-Known Member
#2
further update

perhaps not till 2012 for one of the islands?

Sept. 28 (Bloomberg) -- Astro Corp. and Firich Enterprises Co., gambling-related stocks, fell in Taipei trading after residents voted against a government plan to allow Taiwan’s first casinos in the outlying Penghu islands.

Astro, a software maker for arcade game machines, lost 7 percent to NT$73.4, the most since June 15, at the close on the Taiwan Stock Exchange. Firich Enterprises, a point-of-sale terminal maker that invested in a lottery business, slid 6.9 percent to NT$78.10, also the most since June 15. The benchmark Taiex index declined 0.8 percent.

Some 56 percent of residents voted against a plan to allow casinos on Penghu, the local government said in a press release Sept. 26. The poll may delay developers’ plans until at least 2012, when the law will allow a repeat referendum. AMZ Holdings Plc owns 11 hectares of land on Penghu and had planned to bid for a license as soon as the government sets up a regulator and gaming guidelines, the company said in January.

“Investors are disappointed with the result,” Andy Wei, who helps manage the equivalent of $3.1 billion at PCA Securities Investment Trust Co., said in an interview today. “If it were passed, there could be a lot of business opportunities and may result in new gambling-related companies. We are now back to square one.”

Taiwan legalized casinos in January on its outlying islands of Kinmen, Matsu and Penghu, pending approval in a referendum by residents. The government aims to boost tourism and lure gamblers from Macau as a global recession cuts into earnings from exports and slows domestic consumption. Casinos remain banned on the main island.

“You have to wait three years to get Penghu to go through another referendum, but you do have other outlying islands such as Kinmen which is only 7 kilometers off the coast of mainland China,” said Sean Monaghan, an independent business consultant and gaming analyst on Bloomberg Television. “You’ve really got to expect the government to put in a lot more hard work in planning and communicating potential regulations. There is still an awful lot unknown for everyone.”

Casino operators including Las Vegas Sands Corp. are building gaming resorts in Asian cities such as Macau and Singapore, helping to boost the number of visitors and draw conventions and similar events.

AMZ said in January it plans to invest as much as $300 million to build a five-star, 500-room resort on Penghu in order to win a casino license.

Taiwan’s economy will probably contract 3.52 percent this quarter after the economy slipped into its first recession since 2001. The island’s jobless rate climbed a 12th straight month to a record high of 6.07 percent in August.
 
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