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Taiwan’s Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) has completed the draft of a new gaming law. It is tentatively proposed that the number of licences and the amount of business capital will not be limited; the regulation of these two aspects will essentially follow the rules of the Offshore Islands Development Act regarding the scale of resorts that can be built.
The preliminary decision is that 15 percent of income will be paid as a special tax and that investors must obtain police certificates to operate.
The special gambling region established by the local government will use the income from the tax for community projects and on measures to appease the opposition of local residents.
In order to prevent legal operators from being controlled by undesirable elements, anyone possessing more than five percent of the shares in a gaming business has to report this to the authorities. The operator also has to receive permission in advance before large shareholdings can be amassed.
Additionally, 40 percent of revenue will go back to the local governments, and there will be a licence fee termed a “domestic donation”. For stationary machines such as slots, this will cost NT$10,000 (€255), although the final decision has not been made and further discussions with the Ministry of Finance are still required.
The MOTC invited relevant officials and government bodies to discuss the draft contents in November 2010.
As for the management of gambling, the government is planning to put restrictions on the qualifications of investors and their shareholding proportions, as well as impose rules concerning employment and the inspection of machines. Among its intentions is preventing crime such as money-laundering.
As to the issue of how many licences should be approved, an official explained that the authorities will enact the “international resorts development planning project and investment assessment” measure, based on the Offshore Islands Development Act and covering the standard rules for the opening of tourism resorts.
Operators can apply for permission to open casino areas while applying for a licence to build resorts. The government will then evaluate every application. However, details of the evaluation process are not ready yet, so the draft gambling law will focus on regulating the operators.
Some have suggested that gambling business should be overseen by the Ministry of Interior (MOI), but this is still a controversial issue. MOTC plans to leave the decision-making to the Administrative Yuan, and officials admit in private that giving the final say to the Administrative Yuan is the only way to ease the disputes which arise from the proposal to have the MOTC create the law but the MOI execute it.
Chinese conditions
The city of Jinhua near Shanghai plans to add 16 new amusement venues.
Relevant restrictions provide that amusement machine venues shall not be located in residential buildings (including mixed residential and business buildings), or in levels below the first basement floor. Furthermore, the closest linear distance between an amusement venue and any point on the campus border of high and elementary schools shall exceed 200 meters.
For malls, integrated culture and sporting facilities and hotels of above three stars to accommodate amusement game entertainment venues, their business area must be larger than 3000 square meters. Moreover, their amusement game entertainment venues shall not be less than 400 square meters in business area and shall install not less than 50 machines. Amusement-type machines must account for not less than 60 percent of the total machines installed.
For individual operators, their business area shall not be less than 600 square meters and the number of machines installed shall not be less than 80. Again, amusement-type machines must account for not less than 60 percent of the total machines installed.
All game facilities must use legally manufactured and imported products listed in a guidance directory published by the Department of Markets in the Ministry of Culture.
Countdown to Expo
The vital annual event for the Asia Pacific gaming industry, the GTI Asia Taipei Expo, will take place 5-7 May in B and C zones of hall 1 at the Taipei World Trade Center in Taiwan.
The 18th edition of GTI Expo will bring together more than 100 exhibitors including Taiwanese operators and overseas gaming groups from Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Britain, China and many other countries.
They will include prominent manufacturers and providers of parts, mainly from Taiwan and China, such as IGS, Borden, Subsino, Saint-Fun, Joymax, Feiloli, MEGA, Chain Luck, Yung-Chi, Bingotimes, Tecway, Youal-Jufh, Lidu, Song Yung, Injoy, Taiwan Yuanmei, Huai I, Game Master System (GMS), Shuang Yi, Zhonghshan Golden Dragon and others.
For details of free visitor registration or more information about GTI Asia Taipei Expo 2011, contact GTI by telephone (+886 2 2760 7407 extension 207), by fax (+886 2 2742 0522), or by email (gametime@taiwanslot.com.tw). Alternatively, visit www.taiwanslot.com.tw or www.gtiexpo.com.tw.
Advantech’s purchase
As we reported in our news section last month, Advantech, the third-biggest global embedded computing manufacturer, has spent £3.4m cash to acquire all the shares of Innocore Gaming, an embedded gaming platform provider in the UK.
Innocore Gaming, founded in 2007 and with its headquarters in Newcastle, specialises in designing and manufacturing industrial-grade hardware and dedicated software for the gaming industry. In 2009 it generated total sales of £5.3m, with 87 percent of sales made in the European and U.S. markets, and operating profit of £0.4m.
The business unit will be rebranded as Advantech-Innocore, combining the strengths of both sides. It is expected to become a highly influential global gaming product provider.
Advantech has also acquired the 49.5 percent share of its Advantech KR unit previously held by SGA, making Advantech KR 100 percent-owned by Advantech.
