Inside Asian Gaming

January 2014 | INSIDE ASIAN GAMING 15 COVER STORY Caesars Entertainment is reported to have sent an executive to have a look at the Kinmen island group a little farther down the China coast, where half a century ago the Nationalists were trading artillery fire with Mao’s forces just across the water in Xiamen. Relations between the PRC and the Republic of China have thawed considerably over the last decade, but if the Kuomintang are serious about cashing in on the Asian gambling boom, and obviously they are, the idea of entrusting their fortunes to the effective control of policies dictated in Beijing is something they’ll continue to consider carefully. Hong Kong has a similar arrangement. Taiwan, on the other hand, is considered a renegade province, which to be logical means that in Beijing’s eyes PRC law must in some measure apply. How this would ever work in practical terms is a moot point. But it did result in a clause in the historic 2008 Cross-Strait Agreement between the two governments that forbids travel agents and tour groups from organizing gambling trips from the mainland or involving its citizens in gambling activities. The National Tourism Administration holds to a similar position, and this was affirmed last year when the question of Matsu was broached with a spokeswoman for the State Council’s Taiwan Affairs Office. “People who follow Taiwan gaming and Taiwan-China politics believe that these comments were simply a restatement of the PRC’s current general official position on gambling,” says Ms Chen, “and that it would be a mistake to assume they reflect a State Council decision specifically to discourage PRC citizens from traveling to Matsu to gamble.” Nonetheless, where it gets complicated is whether this also applies tomainlanders enteringTaiwan as individuals. Such a scheme was initiated in 2011 and has since been expanded to include 31 provinces and cities. It cuts off at 2,000 visitors a day. The quota for visitors in tour groups is 5,000 a day. Still, the mainland is Taiwan’s largest source of visitors by far, totalingmore than 2.6million through November, an increase year on year of almost 12%. Six years ago, there were none. Interestingly, Mr Liu, for one, doesn’t see a big problemwith China. They’ll come, he says, because the resorts the law envisions will be overwhelmingly non-gaming with casino areas clearly segregated. Mr Weidner, in the meantime, has reached across the Strait, apparently with some success, to sell officials in Fujian with its 37 million inhabitants on the wisdom of joining forces. This resulted in December 2012 inWeidner Resorts signing a preliminary agreement with a Hong Kong ferry operator for service between Matsu and Fujian’s capital of Fuzhou. Weidner also has proposed developing a supporting tourist hotel in or around Fuzhou, whose 4.4 million urban residents, together with Xiamen’s 5 million farther south, are considered vital to the success of whatever gets built on Matsu. But these are still very choppy political waters. Relations between the PRC and the Republic of China have thawed considerably over the last decade, but if the Kuomintang are serious about cashing in on the Asian gambling boom, and obviously they are, the idea of entrusting their fortunes to the effective control of policies dictated in Beijing is something they’ll continue to consider carefully. In the end, it’s the strongest argument for keeping Taipei and Aerotropolis on the table. “Even under the assumption that there would be little or no mainland Chinese visitation to an IR in Taipei,”says Mr Govertsen,“we think one could still be successful.”