Amazing Holdings PLC, registered in the Isle of Man, intends to become listed on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) of the London Stock Exchange. The company, with its logo that combines a stylized Scottish thistle with a Manx three-legged cross, is majority controlled by its two Scots businessmen founders, Tim Potter and Ian Irvin, and Bayside Development Corporation. It will be the first time that a company listed in London has interests solely in Taiwan.

Amazing hopes to raise around £3 million (US$5.1 million) with its AIM listing, at least £1 million of which will go towards the groundwork for Taiwanese gambling legislation. The company’s plans for a resort in Penghu began in 1998 but have been amended to include a casino since it became apparent that Taiwan was considering licensing gaming. Land rights for the up-market casino resort project have been secured on a 27 acre beachfront plot in the Penghu Islands, the biggest real estate deal ever done in Taiwan. Building is expected to start on the hotel and entertainment development next year, with the addition of a casino when and if legislation permits.

Larry Woolf, a former Chairman and Chief Executive of the Las Vegas MGM Grand, is to be CEO of Amazing Holdings and David Mathewson, another Scot and currently Non Executive Chairman of Sportech plc, the Amazing Chairman. The Penghu development is designed to attract discerning tourists to the islands, particularly high roller Taiwanese and Chinese gamblers if a gaming licence is obtained in due course. It is estimated that 10 million Taiwanese travel abroad each year to gamble, 1.3 million to Macau.

The Directors of Amazing Holdings believe that three gaming licences will be issued by the Taiwanese government, and that their company would be awarded the first. Taiwan is seeking to improve its tourism industry, and new gambling laws are part of government strategy. The Penghu Islands residents widely support casino development, as a gaming industry for the remote islands in the Formosa Strait would boost the local economy whilst minimizing adverse social affects. (E-11.28.05)

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