The legislature yesterday passed a bill that levies severe punishments on anyone caught disrupting the fairness of sporting competitions or events through match-fixing, including a maximum jail sentence of seven years.
The amendment to the Sport Industry Development Act (運動產業發展條例) focuses on two main areas — the strengthening of measures against match-fixing in professional and amateur sports, and requiring the government to assist athletes establish unions.
As part of efforts to promote fairness in sports, the competent authorities are to formulate policies to mitigate the harm associated with gambling, and provide athletes with education on related legal provisions.
Photo: CNA
At present, those suspected of placing bets on games outside of the Taiwan Sports Lottery are investigated under the Criminal Code as the sports development act did not previously contain provisions on the subject prior to the amendment.
The lottery, run by Taiwan Sports Lottery Co, was first introduced in 2008 and provides a legal betting channel for the public.
With the passing of the amendment, anyone who uses violence, coercion, fraud, inducement or other illegal means to interfere with the fairness of sports competitions would be subject to a jail term ranging from one year to seven years, and could also be fined up to NT$30 million (US$922,850).
If committing such actions result in the death of a victim, a seven-year jail sentence or life imprisonment can be levied on the perpetrator, who could also be fined up to NT$50 million.
According to the amendment, people who seek to profit by engaging in the above-mentioned actions together with three or more accomplices can be sentenced between three and 10 years in jail, and fined up to NT$50 million.
The amendment also stipulates that the government would assist athletes to establish unions so as to improve the development of the nation’s professional and amateur sports industry.
A strong continental cold air mass and abundant moisture bringing snow to mountains 3,000m and higher over the past few days are a reminder that more than 60 years ago Taiwan had an outdoor ski resort that gradually disappeared in part due to climate change. On Oct. 24, 2021, the National Development Council posted a series of photographs on Facebook recounting the days when Taiwan had a ski resort on Hehuanshan (合歡山) in Nantou County. More than 60 years ago, when developing a branch of the Central Cross-Island Highway, the government discovered that Hehuanshan, with an elevation of more than 3,100m,
Death row inmate Huang Lin-kai (黃麟凱), who was convicted for the double murder of his former girlfriend and her mother, is to be executed at the Taipei Detention Center tonight, the Ministry of Justice announced. Huang, who was a military conscript at the time, was convicted for the rape and murder of his ex-girlfriend, surnamed Wang (王), and the murder of her mother, after breaking into their home on Oct. 1, 2013. Prosecutors cited anger over the breakup and a dispute about money as the motives behind the double homicide. This is the first time that Minister of Justice Cheng Ming-chien (鄭銘謙) has
SECURITY: To protect the nation’s Internet cables, the navy should use buoys marking waters within 50m of them as a restricted zone, a former navy squadron commander said A Chinese cargo ship repeatedly intruded into Taiwan’s contiguous and sovereign waters for three months before allegedly damaging an undersea Internet cable off Kaohsiung, a Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) investigation revealed. Using publicly available information, the Liberty Times was able to reconstruct the Shunxing-39’s movements near Taiwan since Double Ten National Day last year. Taiwanese officials did not respond to the freighter’s intrusions until Friday last week, when the ship, registered in Cameroon and Tanzania, turned off its automatic identification system shortly before damage was inflicted to a key cable linking Taiwan to the rest of
TRANSPORT CONVENIENCE: The new ticket gates would accept a variety of mobile payment methods, and buses would be installed with QR code readers for ease of use New ticketing gates for the Taipei metro system are expected to begin service in October, allowing users to swipe with cellphones and select credit cards partnered with Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC), the company said on Tuesday. TRTC said its gates in use are experiencing difficulty due to their age, as they were first installed in 2007. Maintenance is increasingly expensive and challenging as the manufacturing of components is halted or becoming harder to find, the company said. Currently, the gates only accept EasyCard, iPass and electronic icash tickets, or one-time-use tickets purchased at kiosks, the company said. Since 2023, the company said it
RSS