A sports lottery, scheduled to begin next year, will first focus on international sporting events and then expand to local competitions to lessen the chances of gambling fraud, the National Council on Physical Fitness and Sports said yesterday.
According to Chu Wen-sheng (朱文生), the council's senior specialist, the lottery program is expected to bring in about NT$5 billion of revenue in the first year.
In the beginning, Chu said that the program would allow participants to bet on international sports competitions only, such as baseball, basketball and football, because they are difficult for local bettors to manipulate.
It would eventually let players bet on local sports competitions. The proceeds are to be used for sports-related purposes only.
Chu made the remarks during a public hearing to outline the council's feasibility study on a sports lottery.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmaker Huang Chih-hsiung (
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmaker Lee Kun-tse (
He also called on the government to map out a mechanism to address fraud in the proposed lottery.
Echoing Lee's opinion, DPP Legislator Tsai Chi-chang (
Another DPP lawmaker, Hsiao Bi-khim (
Another DPP Legislator, Gao Jyh-peng (高志鵬), said that he was worried about the effect of popularizing international sports competitions in the first stage.
Gao expressed concern that sports fans, through the lottery promotion, might develop a passion for international sports and wondered if they would switch their loyalty to local games afterward.
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