Taipei, Jan. 22 (CNA) A sports lottery and fostering better development of the sports industry will be high on the 2008 priority list for the Sports Affairs Council (SAC) , Chairman Yang Chung-he said Tuesday.
Speaking at a year-end press conference, Yang said the SAC will put great emphasis on the scheduled launch of Taiwan's first sports lottery in April and shift its focus from increasing national sports participation to the development of a healthy sports industry, which will benefit athletes, coaches and sports-related corporations.
Preparation and training for the 2008 Beijing Olympics will also be important. Yang said 37 athletes in eight categories had qualified for the Olympics as of Tuesday, with more expected to qualify in baseball, table tennis, judo and tennis before August.
The sports lottery is important not only because of its debut but also because the profits from the lottery will benefit national sports development, said Chang Fen-fen, director of the SAC's Department of Planning, which is in charge of planning and implementing the lottery.
The Taipei Fubon Bank estimated last September when it won the right to issue the sports lottery from 2008-2013 that sales could reach NT$30 billion (US$909.09 million) a year.
If the SAC proposal is passed in the Legislative Yuan, 80 percent of the lottery profits will be allocated to sports-related events and organizations, with the remaining 20 percent going to social welfare, Chang said, adding that the allocation will be a boost for the SAC, which got a budget of just NT$2.6 billion in 2007, less than 1 percent of the central government's total budget.
The SAC, Taiwan's highest sports governing agency, has taken great strides in increasing national sports participation in the past few years, said Peng Tai-lin, director of the Department of Sports for All, adding that the council plans to expand fan bases and spectators for all sports, as well as developing the sports industry, which includes sports management and other sports-related functions.
Among other goals for 2008, the SAC will work on preparation for two international sporting events -- the 2009 World Games in Kaohsiung and the 2009 Deaflympics in Taipei.