The agreement, licensing Shanghai Kelo to operate one of the...

The agreement, licensing Shanghai Kelo to operate one of the first four legal Sports Betting
outlets launched in Shanghai, represents a significant milestone in SSIs involvement in
Chinas emerging legalised gaming industry. Legalised Sports Betting is a rapidly
developing industry within China that first commenced in a pilot phase in the provinces of
Guangdong, Beijing and Tienjin in early 2007. A new Sports Betting system has been
progressively implemented across China by China Sports Lottery since the beginning of
May 2009 and now, with the launch in Shanghai, in just 7 months, 23 provinces of China
have legalised Sports Betting with only 5 more provinces left to implement legalisation.
The following link to China Sports Lotterys official website shows how extensive Sports
Betting has been spreading across China: sporttery.cn/4/2009/0611/30.html1.
Legalisation of Sports Betting across China is important in developing the countrys
legalised gaming market, while illegal sports betting which, according to various gaming
industry estimates, could be turning over as much as US$10 billion a month. Shanghai
would account for 15 to 20 per cent of the illegal turnover while Guangdong Province in the
south has the biggest share and would account for half the illegal turnover.
Chinas resolve in fighting illegal sports betting has led to the crack down of a number of
major illegal sports betting operations throughout the country, particularly in the past three
years. At the same time, China Sports Lottery, which operates the parimutuel or pool Sports
Betting game, is offering the highest prize payout ratio of 69 per cent compared to 65 per
cent for all other legalised games. Commission on sales offered to licensed agents,
including Shanghai Kelo, is also the highest in order to provide an attractive incentive to
the agents to expand the legalised market.
Shanghai Kelo