In the past years, liberalizing casino operation in offshore islands of Taiwan has been long a controversial issue. Gambling proponents usually took the gambling industry in Las Vegas as example and argued that casino liberalization at Las Vegas, originally a piece of barren, desert land in Nevada, has attracted tremendous tourism benefits and brought economic prosperity to the surrounding region. They questioned why the offshore islands of Taiwan shouldn’t follow the path to success in Las Vegas to resolve poverty and economical depression commonly occurred in these islands. Of the offshore islands, Penghu enjoys the best development in infrastructure and various industries. Due to tourism downturn in recent years, as a result aggravating the budget deficit of local government, casino establishment is urgently considered as a way to rejuvenate and prosper local economic activities.
