No matter what the anti-gambling lobbyists say about gambling, many governments that don't have gambling laws are considering the possibility of enacting them. Taiwan has moved a step closer by passing the preliminary review of the draft amendments to the Offshore Islands Development Law, which may lead to casino resorts on islands such as Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu. After last week’s comments by Israel’s Finance Minister about casinos in hotels at Eilat on the Red Sea coast, the country’s Tourism Minister is optimistic that casinos would be up and running within 18 months. The legislation is being made ready for presentation to the Knesset this year and cabinet approval is expected.

Analysts predict that sooner or later Thailand will allow casinos, and apparently Indonesia is quietly looking at making gambling legal. Indonesia is the world’s biggest Muslim nation and as such must avoid controversy over a subject prohibited under Islam’s laws. For eleven years to 1977 gambling was permitted in certain areas of Jakarta, as was prostitution, and revenues were utilized to develop the capital city.

It has been reported that a group of government officials and city councillors have made a visit to Macau in order to look at the success of casinos there. There is no doubt that legalized gambling in Indonesia would be profitable for the government. It is estimated that in Jakarta illegal gambling revenues are in the region of US$53 million nightly. A couple of recent attempts to propose legalizing gambling were dropped after opposition from Muslim organizations. One suggestion is to turn some of the islands in the Thousand Islands chain into gambling sites where wealthy people could gamble.

It is not a problem for wealthy people to find somewhere to gamble. From Indonesia they could travel to Macau, Australia or anywhere else. Having casinos on outlying islands is unlikely to prevent illegal gambling in Jakarta and other places around the country. The governor of Jakarta has said that illegal gambling and prostitution give him a headache and that the problems need a 'correct and profitable solution’. He may know what the illness is and how to cure it, but with such a large number of anti-gambling and religious opponents he may have to keep taking the painkillers for some time to come.
(E-05.20.05)

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