Taipei - Taiwan launched its first sports lottery on Friday
with proceeds to be used on promoting sports and improving the lives
of the handicapped.
'Initially, betters can bet on international baseball, basketball
and soccer games, and we plan to introduce the local professional
baseball and basketball games for betting later this year,' said Yang
Jui-tung, vice president of the Taipei Fubon Bank, which won the
rights last September to operate the lottery until 2013.
He said betting on US baseball, basketball and European soccer
games should be the focus in the initial period, and the lottery will
start with betting on 2,000 games a year, but needs to cover 6,000
games a year to make profits.
Under the plan, the lottery is expected to yield an estimated 350
million US dollars in revenue in 2008, with annual proceeds forecast
at 1 billion US dollars in 2009.
Some 100 of the bank's 200 designated lottery sellers - all
handicapped people - began to sell the lottery tickets Friday, but
because such a lottery is new to Taiwan and with its complicated
process in betting, sales of the tickets were slow.
On the first day, 3.58 million lottery tickets were sold, with 86
per cent betting on US baseball, 11 per cent on US basketball and
three per cent on British soccer.
Among the bets on US baseball, half were placed on the upcoming
game between the New York Yankees and Seattle Mariners, as Taiwanese
pitcher Ching-ming Wang will pitch against the Mariners.
Yang Jui-tung, from the Taipei Fubon Bank, said lottery ticket
sales on Friday - 5 million Taiwan dollars (156,000 US dollars) -
were better than expected as many Taiwanese are not familiar with the
sports gambling yet.
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