Monday, 5th November 2007

SPORTS SHORTS

* AFRI-SAT, the South Africa-based satellite broadcasting company, has agreed a deal with the Ghana Football Association to produce and broadacst coverage of the country's top-tier Onetouch Premier League. AFRI-SAT will pay the association a reported $2.75 million over three years for the rights. The plan brings AFRI-SAT into direct competition with GTV, the pan-African pay-television broadcaster that has snapped up rights to the Uganda and Tanzania soccer leagues, plus the national teams' matches in these two countries. AFRI-SAT also signed a deal worth $175,000 with the GFA to sponsor the broadcasting of a four-nation soccer tournament being hosted by Ghana next month. Source: Sportcal, 2nd Nov 2007

* Microsoft Media Center has launched a new broadband video channel focusing on classic matches involving Barclays Premier League club Arsenal. Arsenal TV Gold, which is part of the online services in Microsoft Media Center and will initially be available in the UK only, will offer footage from historic Arsenal matches including the club’s ‘50 Greatest Moments’. Fans can participate in competitions and will eventually also be able to purchase club memorabilia such as DVDs and retro shirts via the channel. Arsenal TV Gold is delivered by Miomni, using Microsoft MCML (Media Center Mark-up Language) technology. Source: Football Insider, 2nd Nov 2007

* FIFA president Sepp Blatter has fired the starting gun for the race to host the 2018 World Cup. FIFA's executive committee scrapped rotation of the tournament between the continents, with the only restrictions being that countries from Africa and South America will not be able to bid as their continents are hosting the finals in 2010 (South Africa) and 2014 (Brazil). The Football Association (FA) has already announced that England will bid to bring the World Cup back to England 52 years after it was last staged in the country. Football Federation Australia (FFA) chief executive Ben Buckley has confirmed his country intends to throw its hat into the ring while Japan is set to table its own bid to host the tournament. Russia, China, Mexico, Benelux (Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg) and the USA are also likely candidates. Source: Soccerex News, 2nd Nov 2007

* New ITV MD Dawn Airey says social networking sites are simply a trend, not to be ignored, but it would be wise to remember the power of mass-market TV. Airey has just joined ITV as MD/Global Content, and used a Promax Branding & Marketing event in London Nov 2 for her debut speech, coincidentally just as her old boss Rupert Murdoch was hosting the London AGM of BSkyB. She described the growth of broadband as “huge and profound” but urged her audience to remember that broadcast TV remained at the heart of the business and would for many years to come. Source: Rapid TV News, 4th Nov 2007


MORE NEWS

Asia/Rights: IMG Media to Provide ‘Cohesive’ Tennis TV Package

IMG Media said that it aims to present a more ‘cohesive product’ to buyers as the firm takes over the distribution of television rights for women’s tennis’ Sony Ericsson WTA Tour in several territories. Said Michael Mellor, head of IMG Media, Asia Pacific: ‘[To improve distribution] we will provide a more cohesive product to buyers. To date WTA events have been distributed on a fairly ‘ad hoc’ basis. Buyers will get a uniform package, week-in, week-out.’ The four-year deal announced earlier this week covers the Asia Pacific region, Africa, the Middle East (excluding countries in the European Broadcasting Union zone) and Latin America.

Mellor added that the WTA, whose global distribution had previously been handled by pan-European broadcaster Eurosport, would benefit from IMG Media’s knowledge of the tennis markets in the regions. He said: ‘We sell three of the four Grand Slams in Asia and ATP Masters so we know the tennis buyers pretty well.’ Mellor said IMG Media will also make access to matches ‘considerably more cost effective for broadcasters’ on the technical front, adding that this has been a major stumbling block in the past.

IMG Media will distribute the rights for all tier-one and tier-two tournaments and the season-ending Sony Ericsson Championships next year, and the tour’s 20 premier events plus the Sony Ericsson Championships in 2009 and 2010. From 2009, the new WTA schedule will include a longer off-season and fewer top-level events, in a bid to increase player participation and reduce injuries. There will be four top-level events in which participation is mandatory, together with prize money that is increased to $84 million. Source: Sportcal, 2nd Nov 2007

Elsewhere/Broadcaster: IRB Could Take Control of Future World Cup Host Broadcasts

The International Rugby Board is considering taking control of host broadcasting future Rugby World Cups, instead of leaving it to the rights-holder in the host country. Host broadcasting of this year’s event, which ended earlier this month, was handled by TF1, the commercial broadcaster that was the rights-holder in host country, France. But the IRB believes that the growth of the event has been such that national broadcasters in most countries are not big enough to handle the host broadcast operation themselves.

This means that they are forced to buy in extra, third-party services and facilities to produce and package the world feed that is provided to other rights-holders around the world. The costs for these ‘middlemen’ are then passed on to the IRB. The IRB today pointed out that other governing bodies, such as soccer’s Fifa, have already taken a decision to take control of the costs of the host broadcast operation themselves by contracting the job out to ‘one-stop shops’ (Fifa used Host Broadcast Services, the host broadcasting company owned by the Infront Sports and Media agency, for the 2006 soccer World Cup).

The next Rugby World Cup in 2011 is to be staged in New Zealand, where no single broadcaster would be big enough to handle the production requirements of the world feed, including the IRB’s stipulation that the signal must be produced in high definition. The IRB said that the issue is part of a review of ‘all aspects of the Rugby World Cup’ that it is undertaking in the wake of the recent edition, but that it was still ‘early days’ to reach any final conclusion. Source: Sportcal, 2nd Nov 2007

Elsewhere/General: G-14 Reveals Potential Members

Thomas Kurth will chair the meeting later this month The G-14 has confirmed the identities of the clubs that will gather later this month to discuss the formation of a new grouping of elite European clubs. The 18 current members of the G-14 will attend the meeting in Brussels, Belgium on November 13-14, along with 22 other teams who were recently invited to join. It is thought some other clubs will attend the meeting ahead of possibly becoming associate members. As expected, the likes of Sevilla, Chelsea, AS Roma, AS Monaco, Werder Bremen, Benfica and Celtic are set to join the organisation.

However, a number of names from Eastern Europe, such as Red Star Belgrade, Steaua Bucharest, CSKA Moscow, Dinamo Kiev, Sparta Prague, Wisla Krakow and Levski Sofia will also take part in the conference. RSC Anderlecht, Fenerbahce, Olympiacos, FC Basel, Maccabi Haifa, Rosenborg, FC København and Austria Wien will also attend the meeting. G-14 communications manager Derek McGlynn told Soccerex Business News : "This will be an initial meeting with the clubs. It will be used to explain the idea behind the organisation, as well as gauging the level of interest of the clubs we have invited, who will potentially become members. The event is an opportunity to meet the clubs, present ideas and get some feedback."

A total of 23 European countries will be represented in the new grouping, but Sevilla's official website has reported that the members will not have the same voting powers on issues. According to www.sevillafc.es , AC Milan will have eight votes out of 103 available and will be the most 'powerful' club, while Real Madrid, FC Barcelona and Valencia will have four each and Arsenal, Sevilla, Benfica and Ajax will have three apiece. However, it is understood that such detailed decisions are not likely to be decided at the preliminary meeting, which will be chaired by G-14 general manager Thomas Kurth.

The 18 current members of the G-14 are Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester United, FC Barcelona, Real Madrid, Valencia, AC Milan, Inter Milan, Juventus, Bayer Leverkusen, Bayern München, Borussia Dortmund, Olympique Lyonnais, Olympique de Marseille, Paris Saint-Germain, Ajax, PSV Eindhoven and FC Porto. Source: Soccerex News, 2nd Nov 2007


ARTICLES, COMMENTS & OPINIONS

Asia's Growing Gambling Addiction
Article by Ling Woo Liu for Time Magazine, 1st Nov 2007

A dozen people have gathered inside the Industrial Evangelistic Fellowship's modest community center in Macau, where the Rev. Jimmy Tan strums his guitar and belts out Christian songs with the small group before him. Latecomers trickle in well past the meeting's 9:30 p.m. start time, but no one seems to mind — many of them work multiple jobs and are used to odd hours. Seated in a semicircle of plastic chairs, the engineers, police officers, health-care workers and casino dealers have something in common: they are all addicted to gambling. The group meets once a week to hear Tan speak, and to share stories of angry spouses, loan sharks and backsliding. A young nurse who hadn't placed a bet in six months admits she relapsed four days earlier after a fight with her husband. "He wanted money in order to grant me a divorce," says the mother of two. She lost $515 playing baccarat. A well-dressed engineer says that he's considered kidnapping children for ransom in order to pay off $500,000 in gambling debts. Tan has heard these stories before. He listens patiently and delivers a PowerPoint presentation about coping with addiction. "Don't read the racing papers and don't carry too much cash," he warns. "And stay out of the casinos."

Easier said than done. To get home after they leave the meeting, the afflicted must run Macau's gauntlet of gambling resorts, their mesmerizing neon and ritzy, come-hither ambiance carefully calculated to encourage a fling at the tables. Temptation seems to be everywhere. Since the city began issuing new gaming licenses five years ago, the number of casinos has more than doubled to 27, boosting tourism and investment and revitalizing Macau's economy (the city's gaming industry took in $6.95 billion last year, vaulting Macau past Las Vegas as the city with the most total annual wagering revenue). But for a small proportion of Macanese like those at Tan's meeting, the gambling boom has been a curse that has fed their addiction. For habitual gamblers and those prone to developing the habit, "Macau is really dangerous nowadays," says Ava Chan, former counselor at the Yat On Pathological Gambler's Counselling Centre in Macau. "Next to your house, there are slot machines. Across the street, there are casinos. Society doesn't realize the problem. They just think: Economic growth, no problem."

But Asia does have a gambling problem — and because the industry is expanding rapidly throughout the region, mental-health workers and researchers fear pathological gambling could reach epidemic proportions in coming years. Macau's success has inspired other Asian cities and countries to allow new casinos. In Vietnam, a $4 billion luxury gaming resort will open near Ho Chi Minh City in 2009. Ground has already been broken for a pair of casino complexes in Singapore. The Philippine government is planning to open a 100-acre (405,000-square-meter) gaming complex that will employ 40,000 Filipinos in Manila Bay. In an attempt to lure Chinese gamblers over the border, Kazakhstan is creating the "Las Vegas of the steppe" in Kapchagai and Shchuchinsk. Governments in Taiwan, Thailand and Japan are considering legalizing casinos. According to Merrill Lynch, gaming companies are expected to spend $71 billion in Asia over the next four years alone.

It's impossible to predict how many Asians will become addicted as their access to gambling increases, but "there are going to be victims," says Rachel Volberg, a U.S.-based sociologist and an expert in gambling addiction. Volberg was one of the authors of a 1999 study examining the impact of gambling in the U.S. that found the presence of venues such as casinos and horse-racing tracks roughly doubles the incidence of problem and pathological gambling in the surrounding community within a range of 50 miles (80 km). Throughout the world, Volberg says, the introduction of gambling typically results in a three- to four-fold increase in addiction rates within the first five years.

What's especially worrisome to mental-health experts is that, because of gambling's roots in the region's culture, Asians may be more vulnerable to habitual gambling. The cliché that Asians, and Chinese in particular, love to gamble appears to have anecdotal and statistical support. Hong Kong — which bars casinos but has a $13 billion horse-racing, lottery and sports-book industry — has one of the highest per capita betting averages in the world (about $2,000 annually), according to figures from the Hong Kong Jockey Club. And rates of addiction appear to be higher. A 2004 study by psychiatrists at the University of Queensland found that Chinese were almost 50% more likely to develop a gambling addiction than Caucasians. In the U.S., about 3.5% of people are classified as pathological and problem gamblers (more than the number of people who suffer from bipolar disorder, Alzheimer's disease or schizophrenia). In Hong Kong, 5.3% of the population suffers from problem and pathological gambling, according to the University of Hong Kong.

Some reckon the higher rates are due to differing cultural standards. Although China's Communist Party once deemed gambling to be one of the "six evils" (along with illicit drugs, human trafficking, pornography, prostitution and superstition), Eastern religions such as Buddhism and Taoism don't strictly condemn gambling. "Gambling is seen as a morally recognized way of making money," says Peter Ong, chairman of the Tung Wah Group of Hospitals, which oversees Hong Kong's Even Centre gambling-addiction program. The American Psychiatric Association classifies pathological gambling as an "impulse control disorder," along with kleptomania and pyromania. But throughout Asia, it's considered harmless entertainment. Low-stakes mah-jongg tournaments are a fixture of practically every Chinese family gathering — even at funerals. "In Western culture, people go fishing and have other hobbies," says Elda Chan, a certified gambling counselor and supervisor of the Even Centre. "In Chinese culture, people go gambling."

One of those who succumbed was Hong Kong resident Chor-pat Wong, whose betting habit took him to Hong Kong's horse-racing tracks three times a week. By the time his wife left him in 2004, Wong had drained the couple's $25,000 savings and racked up $90,000 in credit-card debt. Homeless, the 55-year-old bus driver made plans to jump from his sister's ninth-floor apartment. She talked him out of it, and, after she stepped in to help him start over financially by declaring bankruptcy, he hasn't made a single wager. "If I gamble again, no one can help me," he says. "It'll kill me."

Wong was able to control his habit with the help of family. But one reason the region may be ill-prepared for a wave of new addicts is Asians' reticence and shame when it comes to getting mental-health treatment. "In the Chinese community, we don't have a help-seeking culture," says Ong. "Professional counseling and psychotherapy still bear a negative image." And even those who recognize they need help may have difficulty finding it; there are few gambling-treatment programs like Gamblers Anonymous in the region and little public funding is available to form new ones. In Macau, the Industrial Evangelistic Fellowship's center is one of just three small organizations offering counseling to the city's growing number of gambling addicts. The only government-funded organization, the Resilience Centre, was launched two years ago and employs just three counselors. Last year, Recovery Circle, a Manila-based substance-abuse clinic, began hosting weekly Gamblers Anonymous meetings. The center has six counselors on staff, but on average, only 10-15 attend the meetings. "The public is not aware that [gambling addiction] is a disease. They think it's part of the culture," says acting executive director Milagros Eos Capistrano. The clinic runs on patient fees, which don't add up to enough to cover the budget, forcing staff to dig into their own pockets to make up the difference. Without government support, "the disease will continue, the rate of crime will go up," says Capistrano. "It's destroying lives."

The ripple effect that the addiction has on the community may eventually force gambling towns (and soon-to-be gambling towns) to establish and fund treatment programs. A problem gambler can negatively affect 10 to 17 people by borrowing money, underperforming at work, straining family relations, stealing and committing suicide, according to Casino Watch, a U.S.-based antigambling group. A 2003 study conducted by the University of Hong Kong's Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention found that gambling-related financial problems were a factor in more than one out of four Hong Kong suicides.

Treatment programs can help. When computerized poker and slot machines were introduced to New Zealand in 1988, gaming operators provided funding for a national gambling hotline, counseling centers, public-awareness campaigns and research. As a result, gambling addiction rates fell from 7% in 1991 to 3% in 1999. Gambling "is a lot like a ski slope," says Bo Bernhard, director of gambling research at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. "A bunch of people race down and have a wonderful time, but inevitably, you'll have a proportion that falls. You have to have a hospital at the bottom of the hill."

Leaders in at least one Asian city that's poised for a gambling boom appear to recognize the need to take at least a few measures to protect the vulnerable few. In July, Singapore's National Council on Problem Gambling introduced a responsible-gambling code of practice, urging casinos to display numbers for gambling hotlines and to train staff on how to help problem gamblers. In an effort to keep Singaporeans who can't afford the vice away from the tables when the city's two planned casinos open in 2009, locals will be required to pay a $68 cover charge just to get in the door.

But that relatively small surcharge hardly seems sufficient to overcome the seductive pull of casinos and their multimillion-dollar marketing budgets. "The gambling industry is so big," says Poon Yan-chi, director of the Macau center where Tan delivers his PowerPoint presentations on the evils of gambling. "It's like David and Goliath." David sometimes wins. But that's not the way to bet.