Taiwan legalise gambling

Taiwan’s parliament voted to legalise gambling on offshore islands on Monday, joining a growing number of Asian markets seeking to boost tourism and speed economic development. Legalise gambling has been talked about for years and received a boost from the administration of President Ma Ying-jeou, which took office in May and must sign the bill before it takes effect. The government will lift the ban on gambling for the Penghu Islands off Taiwan’s west coast so that Penghu can build casinos and lure foreign tourists. The Penghu County government is already amassing 30 billion Taiwan dollars (909 million US dollars) in private investment to help develop massive casino resorts. Penghu plans to build a 120-hectare international vacation village which would contain a 2,000-room hotel, a duty-free shopping mall, an international convention centre, as well as golf courses and casinos, with construction scheduled to kick off in 2011. Penghu is an archipelago with 90 islets about 44 kilometres off Taiwan’s west coast. The local government proposed legalising gambling on Penghu in 1994, but the bill has been blocked in parliament due to opposition from many parts of society. The government said the majority of the 90,000 Penghu islanders support the move.