Taiwan is set to have its first Casino on the offshore island group of Matsu, after 57 percent of the residents voted in favor of government plans to build a casino.
The big players of casino business from Las Vegas like Sheldon Adelson's Las Vegas Sands and MGM Resorts are reportedly interested in Taiwan because of its proximity to major markets like China, Japan and Korea.
Gambling was illegal in Taiwan, but an amendment passed by the government in 2009 allows casino resorts on offshore islands.
"We don't know when the government will start issuing gambling licences," said Yang Sui-sheng, head of Lienchiang County, to reporters. "We hope it'll be as soon as possible, so the entire process (of setting up a casino) can be completed within a period of three to five years."
Matsu hosts about 8,000 people and is a 30-minute ferry ride from China's Fujian province. The little hamlet is named after a Chinese sea goddess. Residents of that area are in favor of a casino resort. They believe it would boost infrastructure and help develop the islands' tourism industry.
Matsu is one of the smallest of the offshore island groups that the Taiwanese government has enabled to vote for casinos in local referendums.
However people living in the Penghu Islands, off the western coast of Taiwan, had rejected plans to build a casino there back in 2009.
Field experts are of the opinion that a casino in Matsu would have minimal impact on gambling revenues in Macau, which is located on China's southern coast. As of now it is unclear how easy it would be for Chinese citizens to get visas to travel to the Taiwanese islands.
As of now Weidner Resorts Taiwan, a company runs by former Las Vegas Sands executive Bill Weidner, has reportedly announced their future projects of building a casino resort that includes luxury hotels, professional sports venues and convention halls.
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