Speaking at the World Lottery Association Convention and Trade Show, Banyan Tree Holdings Chairman Ho Kwon Ping suggested that state-owned lotteries should be allowed to buy into other lotteries or firms locally or abroad as well as go online to keep up with the changing business climate.
“The world is liberalising and competition is the name of the game. Yet it\’s quite funny that these guys are not allowed to compete … because you\’re a monopoly. On the one hand, you\’re sitting in a cushy world, but on the other, you\’re stuck in that world,” said Mr Ho, who added that his arguments apply to Singapore Pools.
“The reason for having kept Singapore Pools as a monopoly owned by the state … has largely been justified by the fact that we have never allowed private gaming operators into Singapore,” he said.
Mr Ho also said that state-owned lotteries can be used to raise money for international causes. His proposal was welcomed by Mr Jesper Karrbrink, Chief Executive of Svenska Spel from Sweden.
In separate news, the wife of a Taiwanese politician was arrested after prosecutors found concrete evidence attesting to her involvement in two illegal betting web sites taking sports bets from Chinese gamblers.
Elsewhere, the Vietnamese police busted a major soccer bookmaking gang operating on the internet, while the Hong Kong police smashed a triad-controlled gambling gang. Hong Kong investigators believe the gang hired overseas accomplices to watch European soccer matches and phone the gang every time a goal was scored. This enabled syndicate members to place a bet online seconds before internet bookmakers updated their web pages.
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