:00:00. > :00:12.Now on BBC News, all the latest business news live from Singapore.
:00:13. > :00:18.Police in Asia are cracking down on illegal betting on the eve of the
:00:19. > :00:21.World Cup kick`off in Brazil. And, game changer? Nintendo counts
:00:22. > :00:35.on toys to turn its fortunes around. Welcome to the programme. I'm Rico
:00:36. > :00:38.Hizon. Days ahead of the start of the World Cup in Brazil, police in
:00:39. > :00:45.China, Thailand and Singapore have begun targeting illegal football
:00:46. > :00:57.betting. It is an enormous market globally. The international centre
:00:58. > :01:02.for sport security estimates people bet up to $680 billion a year. Over
:01:03. > :01:05.80% of those wages are made through illegal channels. Asia accounts for
:01:06. > :01:07.more than half of that illegal market worldwide. From Hong Kong,
:01:08. > :01:13.our correspondent reports on efforts to stamp out the trade.
:01:14. > :01:25.Kicking off a new campaign. Ahead of the World Cup in Brazil, these young
:01:26. > :01:27.dancers are fronting a government`sponsored movement urging
:01:28. > :01:34.the public not to gamble on football matches. The World Cup is about
:01:35. > :01:38.sportsmanship, it is about skills. It is about football stars. They are
:01:39. > :01:44.not running around to make money for you. But, for Hong Kong's many
:01:45. > :01:47.punters, about 60% of the population, the upcoming competition
:01:48. > :02:00.is the most exciting opportunity in the world. The only legal way to
:02:01. > :02:03.gamble here is at the Jockey Club, which collected $6.5 billion US in
:02:04. > :02:05.revenue from football betting last year. Unofficial channels, like this
:02:06. > :02:08.website, are believed to make several times that amount. They
:02:09. > :02:16.offer easy access and lots of credit. They have now been targeted
:02:17. > :02:19.by law enforcement. This week, police in Hong Kong and another
:02:20. > :02:21.province seized millions of dollars in cash and detained 29 people were
:02:22. > :02:24.running an allegedly illegal online betting syndicate. About $100
:02:25. > :02:30.million had already been wagered. Mostly on World Cup matches.
:02:31. > :02:32.TRANSLATION: According to what we have confiscated, and our records,
:02:33. > :02:36.this is an unprecedented and extremely large illegal betting
:02:37. > :02:41.ring. It is difficult to estimate the size of the illegal football
:02:42. > :02:45.betting market. Both here in Hong Kong and the rest of China. Some
:02:46. > :02:49.believe it could be in the hundreds of billions of dollars. For the
:02:50. > :03:00.people affected, the real`life impact is unquantifiable. Deeply in
:03:01. > :03:03.debt, this man quit gambling five years ago and joined a church
:03:04. > :03:11.support group. That was after his wife threatened divorce. He explains
:03:12. > :03:24.why he was punting for more than four decades. TRANSLATION: For me, I
:03:25. > :03:32.loved football. It added to the excitement. The best was when my
:03:33. > :03:35.team won, and I won. Winning on the field is more healthy, say
:03:36. > :03:38.antigambling activists, and they will campaign for two more weeks, to
:03:39. > :03:45.convince the come `` to convince the public that it's a sporting, not a
:03:46. > :03:51.betting event. Looming threat of sanctions over
:03:52. > :03:57.supply cuts means Moscow is increasingly looking to China.
:03:58. > :04:01.President Vladimir Putin last month signed a 30 year gas agreement with
:04:02. > :04:08.Beijing. Economists say the shift in focus will get a mixed response in
:04:09. > :04:14.Asia. Natural gas prices in Asia are about twice what they are in Europe,
:04:15. > :04:17.four times the US. Any source of inexpensive natural gas, like in
:04:18. > :04:22.Russia, will be welcomed. The currency is different. It's not a
:04:23. > :04:27.very strong currency, it is very limited. My guess is the Asians will
:04:28. > :04:36.not be receptive to paying in rubles. It will be happy to pay in
:04:37. > :04:42.dollars or in the yuan. In other business news, the World
:04:43. > :04:49.Bank has revised its forecast for economic road in the developing
:04:50. > :04:53.world this year from 5.3% to 4.8%. If that's correct, it will be the
:04:54. > :04:56.third consecutive year of growth below 5% in these countries. It says
:04:57. > :05:02.developing nations like India need to make economic reforms might like
:05:03. > :05:05.investing in infrastructure, to promote growth but its report
:05:06. > :05:18.predicts growth will speed up in 2015. Indonesia could more than
:05:19. > :05:21.double its rice imports this year, to keep the prices down. The economy
:05:22. > :05:26.once a rise in prices ahead of the elections next month, and the
:05:27. > :05:31.looming weather system. Analysts believe imports could rise to 1.5
:05:32. > :05:41.million tons, which would be good news for growers in Thailand and
:05:42. > :05:52.Vietnam. Google is buying skybox imaging for `` half $1 billion. The
:05:53. > :05:55.technology giant says the deal is aimed at keeping the maps accurate
:05:56. > :05:58.and could help to expand Internet access. Satellites use a resolution
:05:59. > :06:01.that can see single cars along a road. It is their second acquisition
:06:02. > :06:06.year, after it bought a solar powered drone maker.
:06:07. > :06:09.Virtually every media and entertainment business today has a
:06:10. > :06:28.digital strategy to try to get to the consumer where ever they are. In
:06:29. > :06:31.a new report, PricewaterhouseCoopers says that by 2018 one third of
:06:32. > :06:32.advertising revenue across the world will be digital, but
:06:33. > :06:36.consumer revenues will come from digitally delivered content, like
:06:37. > :06:40.music, videos and games. How can they make money from the digital
:06:41. > :06:44.consumer? These days, it is impossible to
:06:45. > :06:47.escape from advertising, as you can see from the big television screen
:06:48. > :06:50.behind me in the heart of Singapore's financial district. Five
:06:51. > :06:53.years ago, television advertising was more than double that of
:06:54. > :06:56.internet advertising. According to a new report, that is set to change. I
:06:57. > :07:08.am joined by Greg Unsworth from PricewaterhouseCoopers. How is the
:07:09. > :07:11.world going digital? It is amazing what is going on at the moment,
:07:12. > :07:15.enabled by smart devices, the whole world is going digital. We can see a
:07:16. > :07:17.large bulk of growth will be digitally driven. That creates
:07:18. > :07:23.challenges for traditional players and opportunities for new entrants.
:07:24. > :07:26.In my hand, I have two hardcopy newspapers, some say they are a
:07:27. > :07:29.dying breed. Most people now consume information on smart phones and
:07:30. > :07:31.tablets. Media companies are now trying to monetise their products
:07:32. > :07:42.online. How successful have they been? There is progress being made.
:07:43. > :07:45.There are some successful models of online distribution of newspaper
:07:46. > :07:51.content and news content and it will evolve. It's a balance of those
:07:52. > :07:53.companies to protect their traditional core, while they develop
:07:54. > :08:00.their digital engagement with consumers as well. How do you
:08:01. > :08:03.monetise the digital customer? There are a few things, like trying to
:08:04. > :08:05.understand the consumer better. You can target different members of the
:08:06. > :08:09.community more effectively. We can see examples of that in different
:08:10. > :08:12.markets. That is what digital advertising is expected to reach the
:08:13. > :08:23.size of television advertising in the next five years globally. Thank
:08:24. > :08:26.you very much. As we can see, most companies are moving their resources
:08:27. > :08:29.to the online world. Whether they are able to make money from that
:08:30. > :08:32.still remains to be seen. Nintendo is focusing its efforts on
:08:33. > :08:40.familiar franchises. Kid friendly content. But can toys and figurines
:08:41. > :08:43.be the best way forward for the Japanese gaming giant, after it
:08:44. > :08:48.missed its own sales targets last year? Our correspondent reports from
:08:49. > :08:52.E3, the world 's largest video gaming fare in Los Angeles.
:08:53. > :08:57.Nintendo came here, needing to revive its flagging fortunes. The
:08:58. > :09:04.gaming giant is just that ` a gaming giant. Unlike Sony and Microsoft, it
:09:05. > :09:11.doesn't have anything else to fall back on. Sales of their latest
:09:12. > :09:16.console have done very well. Over the last few years, it hasn't done
:09:17. > :09:19.well. It announced a new figurine that could help to bring the real
:09:20. > :09:27.world and physical world. David is from Nintendo. Explain what the
:09:28. > :09:32.figurine system isl. `` is. They are little characters, your favourite
:09:33. > :09:35.Nintendo characters. Nintendo is all about reinvention, we keep doing
:09:36. > :09:38.that. But here, we keep reinventing something for our system. It can
:09:39. > :09:41.interact with the games in brand`new ways. You can take it, and place it
:09:42. > :09:48.on your game pad, and it exchanges information. For example, we
:09:49. > :09:57.announced that this would be a fighter, like your partner. Or a
:09:58. > :10:05.rival. With your character, it will be customised. You can build up the
:10:06. > :10:10.statistics and interact with it. This is similar to something in
:10:11. > :10:22.place, like the one from Disney. We are doing this the Nintendo way. One
:10:23. > :10:34.thing that separates us is you can use this across multiple platforms.
:10:35. > :10:44.Next year you'll be able to use it with Nintendo 3ES. It is needing a
:10:45. > :10:48.bit of a shot in the arm. We will see if this delivers.
:10:49. > :10:52.A quick look at the Asian stock markets. Currently, they arm mixed,
:10:53. > :10:57.after US stocks finished nearly flat overnight. Thank you so much for
:10:58. > :11:13.investing your time with us. Sport Today is up next.
:11:14. > :11:14.I'm Mike Embley. The top stories this hour: