CLAIMS TO FAME
- Has turned once struggling Taiwan Sports Lottery into hugely profitable venture
Unlike its Chinese Sports Lottery cousin, which rules the roost on the back of massive growth in sports betting, Taiwan’s Sports Lottery remains well behind its Taiwan Welfare Lottery rival.
Sports Lottery ticket sales for calendar 2023 fell slightly, down 1.6% to NT$59.3 billion (US$1.85 billion), compared with the Welfare Lottery’s more than US$5 billion. And the Sports Lottery “surplus” – the rough EBITDA equivalent distributed to community and corporate stakeholders by government mandate – was flat year-on-year at about US$187 million.
But as CEO Ted Lin would be the first to point out, look at the bigger picture. And he would be right: the Sports Lottery held its own in 2023 against a 2022 that included a FIFA World Cup-boosted record sales haul. And the message emerging from Taiwan, very loud and clear, is that passionate bursts of ticket sales on major global sports tournaments expand the industry base. The same phenomenon has been at work in China for decades, with the FIFA World Cup not only driving growth but capturing a new audience that stays and stays.
Lin is passionate about his post, and the creativity and opportunism of his Sports Lottery team reflect this. We pointed out last year that Lin’s response to pandemic pressure was not to board the windows but to innovate, introducing products such as esports betting to a curious and grateful market.
Today, Lin is the front man for a company that early this year retained the Sports Lottery licence for another decade, but he also keeps his ear to the ground. Just last month Lin noted that Taiwanese affection for Japanese baseball superstar and Dodgers pitcher Shohei Otani was causing betting surges for every Dodgers fixture, leading Lin to exclaim amazement at not just Otani’s role in almost doubling betting volume, but also, in true Taiwanese style, declaring him to be “just so loveable”.
For the full list of 2024 Asian Gaming Power 50 winners, click here.
