About Taiwan and International Gaming Industry
As a person with many years of experience in the industry, from an objective point of view, I will explain the current situation of this industry in Taiwan and discuss it at the legal level.
First of all, the game industry is an important industry that provides entertainment, and it also involves the gaming industry. This description is because gaming refers to related industries including betting, games, and gambling.
In Taiwan, the gambling industry is illegal, but the gaming industry is legal and has gradually become one of the main businesses of economic development, while the gaming industry can only be carried out in legal gaming establishments abroad.
The Taiwan government has strict legal supervision on the gaming industry, mainly because the Taiwan government believes that the gaming industry has a negative impact on social stability and economic prosperity, and can easily lead to problems such as gambling addiction, money loss, and crime.
On the contrary, the game industry is considered to be one of the most important growth points of Taiwan's economy. These game companies include: Garena, Soft-World etc., all have outstanding performance in the game industry.
Their success has not only created hundreds of millions of income, but also created a large number of employment opportunities for Taiwan.
Generally speaking, the Taiwan government has relatively strict legal control over the gaming industry, but is open to the game industry, which also reflects the government's different attitudes towards different types of industries.
In Taiwan, you can still see online gambling ads. What is the reason?
According to the relevant laws and regulations of Taiwan, unofficial gambling is illegal.
However, some underground gambling organizations still use various means to carry out gambling activities, such as online gambling, casinos, poker games, lotteries, etc.
These illegal gambling activities not only involve gamblers and gaming organizations, but may also involve the underworld, money laundering and other criminal activities.
In order to crack down on these illegal gambling activities, the Taiwan authorities have adopted severe measures, such as strengthening supervision, increasing law enforcement, fines and sentences.
In Asia, there are currently more than 10 countries/regions that have conditionally opened/legalized gaming, making it the largest gaming market in the world.
It can be roughly divided into the following two categories:
1. Land-based casinos: Singapore’s Integrated Resort (Integrated Resort) model is mostly adopted, that is, sightseeing casinos are attached to integrated entertainment cities with hotels, shopping malls, conventions and exhibitions, theaters, etc. Article 10-2 of my country's current outlying island construction regulations also adopts this model.
2. Sports betting/online gaming: It is an emerging field. At present, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, Macau, and Vietnam have legalized sports betting; the Philippines, Cambodia, etc. have legalized offshore online gaming.
The international aspects can be roughly divided into:
1. Land-based casinos: Since Singapore opened the game in the IR mode in 2006, Asian countries have adopted the open game to promote tourism and economic development in recent years. The most famous recently is that Japan decided to open the game in 2017 in order to cooperate with the 2020 Tokyo Olympics ( Three casinos are scheduled to open, and have already attracted world-class gaming companies to participate in bidding, each with an investment of up to tens of billions of dollars).
2. Long-distance gaming: In addition to developing land-based casinos, Asian countries such as the Philippines have legalized long-distance online gaming to compete for this big pie.
And Taiwan is:
1. Land-based casinos: Taiwan has amended Article 10-2 of the Outlying Islands Construction Regulations in 2008, allowing outlying islands approved by referendum to set up sightseeing casinos in the form of an integrated resort. Since 2010, commissioned by the Ministry of Communications to study the "Regulations on the Management of Sightseeing Casinos Attached to International Tourist Resorts", but due to social consensus, referendums on outlying islands and many other factors, the bill has not yet been passed.
2. Long-distance gaming: With the opening of long-distance online gaming in countries/regions such as the Isle of Man, the Philippines, and Malta, according to online reports, more than 30,000 young people in Taiwan have invested in the online gaming industry, and Taiwan has already There are a considerable number of overseas online gaming peripheral support service industries.
Today, the growth of global gaming is as follows:
1. The global gaming industry continues to grow, growing nearly 2.5 times from 2001 to 2018.
2. The output value of the global online gaming industry is estimated to reach US$55.79 billion in 2019 (accounting for about 10% of the overall gaming industry output value).
3. Asia has become the largest gaming market in the world, and its scale is growing year by year.
The legality of these related online gaming peripheral support service industries in Taiwan has always been an issue, and how these peripheral service industries, such as customer service companies, technology companies, and risk control companies, operate and are in harmony with Taiwanese laws. think about it.
The future will be divided into several stages to share with readers one by one.
The next article will also explain the global legalization of the gaming industry. I am the Asia Pacific Director Mark.
You are welcome to join me in discussing this controversial industry in detail.
Written by: Mark, Regional Director, Asia Pacific