Taiwan vote goes against opening new resort casinos

Chinese gamblers in particular will be very disappointed by the decision of residents of Penghu County in Taiwan not to go ahead with the development and building of three resort casinos on the island group. The county is looking for a source of income during the winter months but opposition group “Anti-Gambling Legislation Alliance” claimed that the development would result in increased levels of crime (a spokesperson said “now you can leave your doors unlocked”) and have a negative impact on the environment of the 90,000 or so inhabitants. It is believed that Harrahs, MGM and Melco Crown Entertainment were all interested and at least one of these was ready to break ground had the vote gone in their favour. Those in favour of the development said that illegal gambling is very widespread in Taiwan and some of it might have been brought above ground added to which the development would have had a knock on effect for the hotel and restaurant trade in the county. The motion was defeated by 17359 votes to 13397 which is not overwhelming so it may come back at some time in the future.