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Updated Saturday, September 26, 2009 11:04 am TWN, The China Post news staff

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Think twice before you vote

Whether gambling should be legalized is a moot question, of course. Opponents like Wang Chien-hsuan, president of the Control Yuan, condemn legalized gambling on the Pescadores as the beginning of a great disaster or a catastrophe for the islanders. People will become amoral. There will be many more frauds and crooks and thieves and robbers. Violent crime will also climb up. The social fabric will fray. Ad infinitum.

The situation may not be that bad, however. Supporters actually believe Le Casino would attract at least five million gamblers/visits a year. If these visitors are “robbed” of NT$5,000 per gambler/visit by one-arm bandits and the like, the people of the Pescadores will be richer by NT$25 billion or US$800 million per annum. That's a lot of money for the poor subsistence farmers who fish when they arrive in school.

The big question is whether so many gamblers can be lured.

Casinos in Las Vegas and Reno are successful, because they are located in exotic oases in the desert. Casino Royale in Monte Carlo — well, it's Casino Royale — does great business due to its ideal location on the Cote Azure of the beautiful Mediterranean. Hotel Lisboa in Macau is loved, because it's so near Hong Kong, where rich British businessmen simply loved to go to relax — and gamble — when it was a prosperous crown colony. Ah, then there's Le Casino in Beirut. It was a mecca for vacationing emirs and sheiks before the civil war ruined Lebanon. Oil rich emirs in the month of Ramadan used to converge in Beirut to wine and dine and gamble, away from their poorer fellow Moslem Arabs. Islam forbids gambling and outlaws drinking alcoholic beverages.

The Pescadores have no such advantages. For one thing, they are not easily accessible. One has to fly or take a ferry over rough seas to get there. The seas are extremely rough in winter. Flights may be canceled in bad weather. People of Taiwan, if they have more than enough money to gamble away, may choose to go to Macau. Foreigners? They are no suckers. Why should they choose to favor the Pescadores? The Americans will stay with Las Vegas, Reno or Atlantic City. The Japanese? They have horse-racing, dog-racing and cycling for gambling away their extra money. Chinese nouveau riches? Hotel Lisboa is the nearest, and they don't have to try to go across half of the Taiwan Strait.

Let everybody on the Pescadores be more sensible. What the politicians and developers have told them is in fact the counting of the chickens before the eggs are hatched.

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