The Cabinet yesterday passed draft amendments to the Sports Lottery Act (運彩發行條例) to strengthen the issuing agency’s responsibilities and impose heavier penalties on those who take advantage of their position to make illegal gains.
The revisions, which follow allegations of fraud several months ago, will be sent to the legislature for approval.
The raft of revisions will require the issuing agency and other commissioned units to strengthen their internal monitoring mechanisms to ensure the fairness of the operations, Premier Sean Chen (陳冲) said in a regular Cabinet meeting.
The fraud case, exposed in September last year, involved a Taiwan Sport Lottery Corp assistant manager, Lin Hao-chin (林昊縉), who allegedly defrauded the lottery by running a scam that allowed his accomplices to bet on sports events after the results were known.
The Taiwan Sport Lottery is a subsidiary of Fubon Financial Holding Co, which was commissioned by the Sports Affairs Council to operate the lottery.
The proposed amendments include a requirement that the issuing agency and commissioned units must establish an internal monitoring system and report any suspicious cases.
Heavier fines for those caught taking advantage of their positions at the lottery-issuing agency to make illegal profits are also among the revisions.
It is hoped that the changes will help restore public confidence in the sports lottery, Chen said.
Lin was responsible for opening and closing the betting system at Taiwan Sport Lottery, police said.
He was fired on Aug. 23 last year, a few weeks before the scandal broke, and he has been indicted on charges of fraud.
Lin allegedly ran the scam seven times between June and August last year, and he is said to have defrauded the lottery of about NT$3.73 million (US$126,000) during that time, police said.
He cashed in about NT$430,000 of that amount, police said.
After prosecutors began their investigation, Lin surrendered to police.
One of his alleged accomplices, reportedly his girlfriend, also turned herself in.
Executives of Taiwan Sport Lottery and Fubon Financial have apologized for the alleged scam.
Fubon Financial has about two years to go on its six-year contract with the sports council to run the lottery.
SAFETY IN REGULATION: The proposal states that Chiayi should assess whether it is viable to establish such a district and draft rules to protect clients and sex workers The Chiayi City Council passed a motion yesterday to assess the viability of establishing a regulated red-light district. The council yesterday held its last session of the year, at which its fiscal 2024 budget was approved, along with 61 other proposals. The proposal to assess the viability of establishing a red-light district was put forward by independent Chiayi City Councilor Molly Yen (顏色不分藍綠支持性專區顏色田慎節). The proposal cited 2011 amendments to the Social Order Maintenance Act (社會秩序維護法), which stipulate that city and county governments can pass autonomous regulations on the sex trade to manage the industry and guarantee industry workers’ rights. A ban on the
STABILITY AND CHANGE: Flagging in recent polls, Ko this week pledged to maintain President Tsai’s foreign policy, with an emphasis on improving China relations Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman and presidential candidate Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) yesterday reiterated that he is “deep-green at heart” in response to accusations that he is pivoting his campaign to align closer with the ideology of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in the face of flagging polls. Ko made the remark at an agricultural policy conference in Taipei, repeating his comments from an interview with CTS News a day earlier. Ko told the CTS host that he would continue to pursue President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) national defense and foreign policy in general, but with an emphasis on establishing a rapport with
CHINA illness surge: Of 88 travelers from China, Hong Kong and Macau with respiratory symptoms who were encouraged to get tested upon arrival, 70.6% had the flu Two hundred and sixty people with COVID-19 were hospitalized and 31 deaths related to the virus were reported last week — the highest numbers in four weeks, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday, adding that cases are expected to peak next month. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) said that of the 260 people hospitalized last week with moderate to severe COVID-19, 98 percent had not received the Omicron XBB.1.5-adapted COVID-19 vaccine. Among the people hospitalized this year, 78 percent were aged 65 or older, while most of the those who were hospitalized or died have or had
Taiwanese who have recently traveled to China for tourism, to visit friends or relatives or for business reasons have been interrogated, detained and faced other forms of unreasonable treatment from Chinese officials, a source said on Sunday. Among them was a Taiwanese who was detained for eight hours at an airport in China due to their research, which is related to religion, while others have had their travel documents for China canceled for a number of reasons, the source said. In July, China expanded the scope of its counterespionage law, and recently announced a draft amendment to the law on the protection
RSS