11/06/2014 Asia Business Report


11/06/2014

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Now on BBC News, all the latest business news live from Singapore.

:00:00.:00:12.

Police in Asia are cracking down on illegal betting on the eve of the

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World Cup kick`off in Brazil. And, game changer? Nintendo counts

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on toys to turn its fortunes around. Welcome to the programme. I'm Rico

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Hizon. Days ahead of the start of the World Cup in Brazil, police in

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China, Thailand and Singapore have begun targeting illegal football

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betting. It is an enormous market globally. The international centre

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for sport security estimates people bet up to $680 billion a year. Over

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80% of those wages are made through illegal channels. Asia accounts for

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more than half of that illegal market worldwide. From Hong Kong,

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our correspondent reports on efforts to stamp out the trade.

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Kicking off a new campaign. Ahead of the World Cup in Brazil, these young

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dancers are fronting a government`sponsored movement urging

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the public not to gamble on football matches. The World Cup is about

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sportsmanship, it is about skills. It is about football stars. They are

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not running around to make money for you. But, for Hong Kong's many

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punters, about 60% of the population, the upcoming competition

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is the most exciting opportunity in the world. The only legal way to

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gamble here is at the Jockey Club, which collected $6.5 billion US in

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revenue from football betting last year. Unofficial channels, like this

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website, are believed to make several times that amount. They

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offer easy access and lots of credit. They have now been targeted

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by law enforcement. This week, police in Hong Kong and another

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province seized millions of dollars in cash and detained 29 people were

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running an allegedly illegal online betting syndicate. About $100

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million had already been wagered. Mostly on World Cup matches.

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TRANSLATION: According to what we have confiscated, and our records,

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this is an unprecedented and extremely large illegal betting

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ring. It is difficult to estimate the size of the illegal football

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betting market. Both here in Hong Kong and the rest of China. Some

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believe it could be in the hundreds of billions of dollars. For the

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people affected, the real`life impact is unquantifiable. Deeply in

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debt, this man quit gambling five years ago and joined a church

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support group. That was after his wife threatened divorce. He explains

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why he was punting for more than four decades. TRANSLATION: For me, I

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loved football. It added to the excitement. The best was when my

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team won, and I won. Winning on the field is more healthy, say

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antigambling activists, and they will campaign for two more weeks, to

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convince the come `` to convince the public that it's a sporting, not a

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betting event. Looming threat of sanctions over

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supply cuts means Moscow is increasingly looking to China.

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President Vladimir Putin last month signed a 30 year gas agreement with

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Beijing. Economists say the shift in focus will get a mixed response in

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Asia. Natural gas prices in Asia are about twice what they are in Europe,

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four times the US. Any source of inexpensive natural gas, like in

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Russia, will be welcomed. The currency is different. It's not a

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very strong currency, it is very limited. My guess is the Asians will

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not be receptive to paying in rubles. It will be happy to pay in

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dollars or in the yuan. In other business news, the World

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Bank has revised its forecast for economic road in the developing

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world this year from 5.3% to 4.8%. If that's correct, it will be the

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third consecutive year of growth below 5% in these countries. It says

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developing nations like India need to make economic reforms might like

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investing in infrastructure, to promote growth but its report

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predicts growth will speed up in 2015. Indonesia could more than

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double its rice imports this year, to keep the prices down. The economy

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once a rise in prices ahead of the elections next month, and the

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looming weather system. Analysts believe imports could rise to 1.5

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million tons, which would be good news for growers in Thailand and

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Vietnam. Google is buying skybox imaging for `` half $1 billion. The

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technology giant says the deal is aimed at keeping the maps accurate

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and could help to expand Internet access. Satellites use a resolution

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that can see single cars along a road. It is their second acquisition

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year, after it bought a solar powered drone maker.

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Virtually every media and entertainment business today has a

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digital strategy to try to get to the consumer where ever they are. In

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a new report, PricewaterhouseCoopers says that by 2018 one third of

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advertising revenue across the world will be digital, but

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consumer revenues will come from digitally delivered content, like

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music, videos and games. How can they make money from the digital

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consumer? These days, it is impossible to

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escape from advertising, as you can see from the big television screen

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behind me in the heart of Singapore's financial district. Five

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years ago, television advertising was more than double that of

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internet advertising. According to a new report, that is set to change. I

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am joined by Greg Unsworth from PricewaterhouseCoopers. How is the

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world going digital? It is amazing what is going on at the moment,

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enabled by smart devices, the whole world is going digital. We can see a

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large bulk of growth will be digitally driven. That creates

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challenges for traditional players and opportunities for new entrants.

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In my hand, I have two hardcopy newspapers, some say they are a

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dying breed. Most people now consume information on smart phones and

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tablets. Media companies are now trying to monetise their products

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online. How successful have they been? There is progress being made.

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There are some successful models of online distribution of newspaper

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content and news content and it will evolve. It's a balance of those

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companies to protect their traditional core, while they develop

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their digital engagement with consumers as well. How do you

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monetise the digital customer? There are a few things, like trying to

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understand the consumer better. You can target different members of the

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community more effectively. We can see examples of that in different

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markets. That is what digital advertising is expected to reach the

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size of television advertising in the next five years globally. Thank

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you very much. As we can see, most companies are moving their resources

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to the online world. Whether they are able to make money from that

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still remains to be seen. Nintendo is focusing its efforts on

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familiar franchises. Kid friendly content. But can toys and figurines

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be the best way forward for the Japanese gaming giant, after it

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missed its own sales targets last year? Our correspondent reports from

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E3, the world 's largest video gaming fare in Los Angeles.

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Nintendo came here, needing to revive its flagging fortunes. The

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gaming giant is just that ` a gaming giant. Unlike Sony and Microsoft, it

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doesn't have anything else to fall back on. Sales of their latest

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console have done very well. Over the last few years, it hasn't done

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well. It announced a new figurine that could help to bring the real

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world and physical world. David is from Nintendo. Explain what the

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figurine system isl. `` is. They are little characters, your favourite

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Nintendo characters. Nintendo is all about reinvention, we keep doing

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that. But here, we keep reinventing something for our system. It can

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interact with the games in brand`new ways. You can take it, and place it

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on your game pad, and it exchanges information. For example, we

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announced that this would be a fighter, like your partner. Or a

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rival. With your character, it will be customised. You can build up the

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statistics and interact with it. This is similar to something in

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place, like the one from Disney. We are doing this the Nintendo way. One

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thing that separates us is you can use this across multiple platforms.

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Next year you'll be able to use it with Nintendo 3ES. It is needing a

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bit of a shot in the arm. We will see if this delivers.

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A quick look at the Asian stock markets. Currently, they arm mixed,

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after US stocks finished nearly flat overnight. Thank you so much for

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investing your time with us. Sport Today is up next.

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I'm Mike Embley. The top stories this hour:

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