The US Congressional National Gambling Impact Study Commission (NGISC): Findings Applied to Taiwan’s Proposal to Create a Gambler’s Paradise to Close the Budget Gap
Timothy A. Kelly, Ph.D., NGISC Executive Director September 15, 2009
• The Commission was a bipartisan, research-based effort to analyze the economic and social costs and benefits of legalized gambling. The report, based on $2.5M of original research, stands as the most comprehensive and authoritative gambling study to date.
• The Commission Report to Congress and the President called for a moratorium on gambling expansion until legislators can complete a full and objective cost-benefit analysis. Otherwise, they are not doing their due diligence, and the actual costs (economic, social, political & criminal) may well outweigh the projected benefits (tax revenue & jobs) (p. 1-7, 1-8, 7-29). Such a study has not been done In Taiwan, legislators have not done their due diligence, and they are thus gambling with Taiwan’s future without understanding the consequences.
• On Benefits–Tax Revenue & Jobs:
o Taxable income will likely be less than projected, especially from international gamblers, due to the close proximity of Macau. Most of the profits will go to non-Taiwanese owners.