Asian sports lotteries boom on World Cup

On Friday, China’s Ministry of Finance reported total lottery sales rose 12.6% in May to US$ 5 billion. Welfare lottery sales were up 16.2% to 17.65 billion RMB while sports lottery sales rose 8.2% to 13.15b RMB.

The China Center for Lottery Studies at Peking University has estimated the illegal sports betting market is worth around US$ 97 billion per year, 15 times the sums wagered with the official lottery channels.

Meanwhile, Singapore’s betting monopoly operator Singapore Pools has teamed with leading telecom outfit SingTel to offer free public screenings of World Cup matches at 40 community clubs across the city-state.

Singapore Pools is undoubtedly hoping the resulting goodwill can generate a similar boost in its World Cup wagering, but their attention to detail leaves something to be desired. A glance at their website reveals the Irish flag among the mosaic of nationalities on the site’s World Cup pages, which is more than a little odd, given that Ireland didn’t actually qualify for the tourney.

Finally,China Netcom Technology subsidiary Shenzhen HuancaiPuda Technology Company Ltd. announced last week it had entered into a contract to supply the Hainan Provincial Sports Lottery Administration Centerwith video lottery terminals. China’s Ministry of Finance has yet to officially approve the use of such terminals but speculation has it that Hainan is being used as a laboratory to determine the impact of VLTs before introduction on the mainland is permitted.