Quemoy is considering building Taiwan's first casinos, which could draw millions of gamblers from the mainland and transform the island county that has long been the frontline in cross-strait tensions.
Last weekend, the county's government held the first meeting of an evaluation committee to consider a petition by 460 people, collected by the head of Quemoy's Democratic Progressive Party, calling for a referendum on the issue.
Big firms such as Harrah's, MGM Mirage and Melco Crown Entertainment are watching closely.
On September 26, residents of Penghu, another Taiwanese island, unexpectedly rejected by 17,359 votes to 13,397 a proposal to allow gambling. A law passed by Taiwan's legislature in January allows gambling offshore, but not on the main island.
For the pro-gambling lobby, the Penghu vote gives Quemoy an historic opportunity to end five decades as an undeveloped island controlled by the military and turn it into a tourist destination for millions of mainlanders just 20 nautical miles away.
'Kinmen [Quemoy] is declining. We have few jobs and no small and medium-sized enterprises,' said Hsiong Chi-hsing, a spokesman for the Quemoy Gambling Tourism Industry Development Association, which presented the petition to the county government. 'Our young people graduate and leave to work in Taiwan. Our population is not growing. Opening the gambling market would mean improved business, higher land prices and a range of tourist industries ... Our conditions are better than those of Penghu.'