GTECH Corp, a US gaming solution provider, said yesterday it would team up with Taipei Fubon Bank (
GTECH partnered with Taipei Fubon Bank through Lottery Technology Service Co (
Acer will not join the partnership for the sports lottery, as the world's fourth-largest PC vendor said it wants to focus on its core business, said Simon Chuang (莊俊元), account general manager of GTECH Global Services Corp's Taiwan branch.
"It is a challenge [to operate a sports wagering system ... We are uniquely positioned to provide this service," Robert Vincent, vice president of GTECH corporate communications, told a press conference yesterday in Taipei.
Sports wagering requires much more sophisticated technology than common lotteries, including setting the odds at appropriate levels -- which vary depending on the sport -- individual team performances, players and even the weather, Vincent said. It also carries more management risks for the operator, he added.
Declining to provide an estimate on the market size of sports betting because of the sensitive timing, Vincent said the market "will be substantial and rival other similar markets."
A sports lottery committee under the Cabinet said last week it will announce the requirements for the bid in the middle of next month and invite tenders in the following two months.
The betting venues and rules will be determined once the selection of an operation has been completed. If the process goes smoothly, lottery fans should be able to bet as early as next year.
In addition to Taipei Fubon Bank, Chinatrust Commercial Bank (中國信託商銀), the issuer of Public Welfare Lottery tickets, Taishin International Bank (台新銀行) and Bank of Kaohsiung (高雄銀行) have expressed an interest in running the nation's first sports lottery.
As baseball and basketball are the nation's most popular sports, the two games are very likely to be chosen for betting, Chuang said.
The betting channels could be retail stores, the Internet or telephone, channels GTECH is well-positioned to service, Chuang said.
Discussing the Public Welfare Lottery ticketing system run by Taiwan Lottery Co (
Taiwan Lottery is a wholly owned subsidiary of Chinatrust Financial Holding Co (中信金控), which took over Taipei Fubon Bank as the nation's exclusive Public Welfare Lottery manager after offering the highest contribution payment to the government.
Taiwan Lottery's system provider is the Athens-based Intralot SA.
The system has crashed several times since Taiwan Lottery started selling lotto tickets this year, resulting in numerous complaints from vendors and customers.
A poll released on Monday showed that 65 percent of lottery buyers considered Taiwan Lottery's performance below average and 7 percent gave the company a zero score.
“We hope this market has learned a lesson about low-priced providers coming
in ... Any cost-saving will be lost if the system doesn't operate properly,”
Vincent said, referring to the dropping lottery sales.
“We hope the government will look at the quality of the system and the
ability to deliver when evaluating the operators,” he said.
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