In accordance with the Referendum Law, for a county to hold a referendum, the number of joint signatures should reach above 5% of the total number of people that voted in the previous county magistrate election. In 2005, 70,427 people voted in the 15th Penghu county magistrate election. The 5% requirement for holding the referendum on gambling is 3,522 people.

Lan Chun-yi emphasized that casino gaming business can create massive job opportunities, revive the economy and generate local prosperity. The Penghu County Chamber of Commerce felt obliged to initiate its proprietary member groups into gathering joint signature letters. 

Lan also predicted that the gambling referendum would gain support from Penghu residents and pass smoothly. Furthermore, he revealed that Penghu County compiled a NT$8 million budget for the gambling referendum and the budget proposal has been sent to the Penghu County Council for approval.

According to the Penghu County Election Committee, upon receiving the joint signature letters the Commission delivered the letters to all household registration offices to be examined for removing unqualified letters. The qualified letters exceeded the requirement of 3,522 copies. Therefore, the Election Committee convened a meeting and decided September 26 as the time for holding the referendum.

The Amendment to the Offshore Islands Development Act passed through third reading at the Taiwan legislature on January 12 this year, adding the clause decriminalizing gambling on offshore islands. Whether the offshore islands of Taiwan will allow casino gambling will be decided by local residents' referendums and it requires support of more than half of referendum voters to develop casino gambling. The referendum on September 26 is highly anticipated.

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