A contractual error is the main reason there has been a shortfall in the sports lotteries revenue, but the lotteries still have the potential to earn more money, an analyst said yesterday.
Taiwan Sports Lottery Corp, run by Taipei Fubon Bank, asked the government on Feb. 8 to allow it to halve the contracted amount of revenue it must give the treasury because sales were lower than forecasted. It attributed the slow sales to a delay in launching the lotteries, a change made to regulations governing its issuance and the global financial crisis.
“Given the current regulations, the sports lotteries are doomed to be non-profitable for operators,” said Griffey Chang, a sports lotteries analyst who breaks down game odds daily for betters. “It’s not that there’s no market for sports betting in Taiwan. On the contrary, there has been a huge underground betting market for years.”
One crucial factor was the government’s request that the Taiwan Sports Lottery submit the annual revenue by a fixed-rate portion of “expected sales” rather than “actual sales.”
The contract specifies that Taipei Fubon Bank must pay NT$20.83 billion (US$652 million) over six years, an average of NT$3.47 billion a year.
The bank had forecast sales would reach NT$33.65 billion from 2008 to last year, but the actual sales were NT$19.1 billion — 56.8 percent of expected sales.
The large amount of forecast revenue had forced the bank to add it as an operating cost and bookmakers to lower the game odds, making the lotteries unappealing for consumers, who ended up betting with underground operators, Chang said.
The other problem affecting sales was that betters cannot bet on single games because of fears this could lead to game-fixing. This means local professional baseball games are bundled with US Major League (MLB) games, which means betters have to correctly predict the outcomes of several local and MLB games to win.
“The design discourages betters who don’t follow foreign sports or do not read English,” Chang said.
The creation of the sports lotteries, however, has turned more people into sports fans, he said. Over time, the lotteries will have a positive impact on local sports by bringing in more fans as well as providing the sports federation with revenue, he said.
Taiwan Sports Lottery has a six-year contract to run the lotteries, from 2008 to 2013.
A strong continental cold air mass is to bring pollutants to Taiwan from tomorrow, the Ministry of Environment said today, as it issued an “orange” air quality alert for most of the country. All of Taiwan except for Hualien and Taitung counties is to be under an “orange” air quality alert tomorrow, indicating air quality that is unhealthy for sensitive groups. In China, areas from Shandong to Shanghai have been enveloped in haze since Saturday, the ministry said in a news release. Yesterday, hourly concentrations of PM2.5 in these areas ranged from 65 to 160 micrograms per cubic meter (mg/m³), and pollutants were
Taiwan’s armed forces have established response protocols for a wide range of sudden contingencies, including the “Wan Chun Plan” to protect the head of state, the Ministry of Defense (MND) said today. After US President Donald Trump on Saturday launched a series of airstrikes in Venezuela and kidnapped Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, concerns have been raised as to whether China would launch a similar “decapitation strike” on Taiwan. The armed forces regularly coordinate with relevant agencies and practice drills to ensure preparedness for a wide range of scenarios, Vice Minister of National Defense Hsu Szu-chien (徐斯儉) told reporters before a
EVA Airways on Saturday said that it had suspended a pilot and opened an investigation after he allegedly lost his temper and punched the first officer several times as their plane was taxiing before takeoff at Los Angeles International Airport. According to a report published on Thursday by The Reporter, the incident occurred after the flight’s Malaysian first officer tried to warn the Taiwanese pilot, surnamed Wen (文), that he was taxiing faster than the speed limit of 30 knots (55.6kph). After alerting the pilot several times without response, the first officer manually applied the brakes in accordance with standard operating
NOT AN OPENING: Trump’s violation of international law does not affect China’s consideration in attacking Taiwan; Beijing lacks capability, not precedent, an official said Taiwanese officials see the US’ capture of the president of Venezuela as a powerful deterrent to Beijing’s aggression and a timely reminder of the US’ ability to defeat militaries equipped with Chinese-made weapons. The strikes that toppled Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro signaled to authoritarian leaders, including Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), US President Donald Trump’s willingness to use military might for international affairs core to US interests, one senior official in Taipei’s security circle said. That reassured Taiwan, the person said. Taipei has also dismissed the idea that Trump’s apparent violation of international law could embolden Beijing, said the official, who was not
RSS