The recent outstanding performance of Jeremy Lin (林書豪) at the NBA has invigorated basketball fans and helped boost sales of sports-lottery tickets, with gamblers counting on the -Taiwanese-American player to help his team, the New York Knicks, to their sixth consecutive victory.
The Knicks are scheduled to square off against the Toronto Raptors this morning. Taiwan Sport Lottery Corp (TSLC) said it had opened the game for betting, with the Knicks favored by a five-point spread.
“Lin is the first Taiwanese-American player who has made it to the NBA,” TSLC president Hong Chu-min (洪主民) said.
“He has drawn a lot of attention, which in turn has increased the sale of lottery tickets,” Hong said.
Because of “Linsanity,” Hong said an increasing number of lottery players have bet on a Knicks win for games they play, especially after the team took down the Los Angeles Lakers 92-85 on Saturday.
Statistics from TSLC showed that only 36 percent of those betting on Saturday’s game actually placed bets on the Knicks to win. The percentage increased to 65 percent on Sunday, when New York defeated the Minnesota Timberwolves 100-98. Lin contributed to the win with 20 points, eight assists and six rebounds.
The coast guard drove away 567 Chinese boats and seized seven illegally operating in Taiwanese waters in the first six months of this year, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. They mostly operated near Kinmen and Penghu counties, resulting in fines totaling NT$1.7 million (US$52,440), it said. Three ships — two near Kinmen County and one near Penghu County — were detained in January for illegally crossing the border, while one ship each was detained near Kinmen in February and Penghu in March respectively, it said. The ship seized near Penghu in January was the Yun Ao (雲澳), detained by the CGA’s
Military photovoltaic projects have been found to have used Chinese-made devices blacklisted by the government, including Huawei Technologies Co routers, the Ministry of National Defense’s Armaments Bureau said on Thursday. An ongoing investigation has identified the illegal use of 128 current transformers, two routers and a data reader at the Hungchailin Army Base, Pinghai Navy Base and Tri-Service General Hospital’s Songshan branch, it said. The devices were manufactured in the Chinese factories of German solar energy equipment supplier SMA Solar Technology, Taiwanese electronics manufacturer Delta Electronics Co, Chinese electronics manufacturer Huawei and Taiwanese industrial PC maker Advantech Co, the bureau said. The bureau’s
The entire Alishan Forest Railway line is to reopen for the first time in 15 years on Saturday, with tickets to go on sale at 2pm today. The historic railway from Chiayi to Alishan (阿里山) is finally set to reopen after the completion of the final No. 42 tunnel, Alishan Forest Railway and Cultural Heritage Office Deputy Director-General Chou Heng-kai (周恆凱) said. It is to run on a new timetable, with four trains daily, he said. The 9am train is to depart from Chiayi Railway Station bound for Shizilu Station (十字路), while the 10am train departing from Chiayi is to go all the
Beijing’s recent provocative actions against the Philippines in the South China Sea were partly meant as a “dress rehearsal” for the invasion of Taiwan, former US deputy national security advisor Matt Pottinger said at a Heritage Foundation forum in Washington on Tuesday. Beijing’s blocking of a Philippine resupply mission on June 17 with unprecedented violence had multiple implications. “What they’re doing is trying to demonstrate that they can blockade, create a sense of futility and discredit the idea that the United States is going to help not only the Philippines, but by extension Taiwan,” Pottinger said. Pottinger was referring to a clash