Hong Kong Public Wants Legalized Soccer Betting
Hong Kong's Liberal Party surveyed 1,511 residents of the special administrative region, and the respondents weren't shy about voicing their desire for legalized betting on soccer.
More than 67 percent of those polled said they were in favor of government-controlled soccer betting. A smaller percentage, 38 percent, indicated they would have placed bets on the World Cup had it been legal to do so.
The Liberal Party spokesman on home affairs, Tommy Cheung Yu-yan, said soccer betting is already popular in Hong Kong.
"Soccer betting is an open secret during the World Cup," he said. "It shows the problem cannot be rooted out."
With the caveat that revenues from controlled soccer betting be used mainly for charity and sports funding, 76 percent of Hong Kong residents said they would support legalization. The poll also disclosed that 35 percent of the respondents believed the recent World Cup crackdown on betting had been effective.
DTV Has Major Consumer Obstacles to Overcome in UK
A recent survey by Mediaedge:CIA polled U.K. television viewers on their feelings about switching from analog to digital TV pending the expected 2010 rollout of DTV technology across the country.
The results of the poll show an increasing negativity towards DTV, as indicated by a rise of eight percent in the number of respondents who say they never intend to switch. In the over-65 audience, a full 60 percent said they will refuse to make the switch.
Other indicators that suggest DTV is meeting stiff resistance among the public were findings that show the number of individuals willing to pay for DTV has dropped 17 percent since the early months of 1999. The number of people indicating they are ready to adopt DTV has also fallen to 9 percent in the last seven months.
Speed of Connection Affects Behavior Online
According to Pew Internet & American Life, Internet users have differences in their online behaviors based on the speed of their Internet connection.
The research company found that home broadband users are performing more tasks online than home dial-up users and are 26 percent more likely to go online during the day. In addition, dial-up users only spend 83 minutes online in an average day whereas broadband users spend an average of 95 minutes online per day.
Other findings of the research show that 86 percent of users with broadband access indicate the Internet has helped them learn new things; 65 percent have used the Internet to pursue hobbies; and 55 percent claim the faster connection has helped them do their job.
Web Surfers Scrutinize Sites In Order to Build Trust
Consumer WebWatch conducted a telephone survey of 1,500 Internet users to determine which Web site attributes are key to building and instilling credibility among users of news and e-commerce sites.
Twenty-nine percent of respondents said they trust e-commerce sites, a percentage much lower than the trust-level for brick and mortar institutions. From the survey results, it seems the most important credibility-enhancing aspect of a Web site is for the site to reveal any and all fees incurred. percent of respondents agreeing with this.
Additionally, 93 percent said disclosing how their credit card information is protected is vital to trusting a site. Fifty-nine percent of those polled said distinguishing advertising from content and limiting advertising to pertinent ads was another important factor.
Beau Brendler, director of Consumer WebWatch, said consumers are less trustful of Web sites than they used to be.
"As consumers settle into the realities of a world where the Internet has changed many aspects of how they live their lives, they are starting to question more and more how much they should trust Web content," he said.
Irish Unlikely to Buy Broad-Spectrum Content
Interactive advertising agency Ican surveyed Internet users in Ireland to gauge their willingness to pay for content online.
According to the results from Ican's survey, less than 20 percent of Irish users were agreeable to paid content online. Paid news content was acceptable to 18 percent of respondents and 13 percent would accept paying for sports content. Ten percent said they would purchase news archive materials.
Survey respondents indicated more willingness to pay for career services and educational content. Twenty-two percent said they would pay for online education content, and 20 percent said they would pay for online career services. Those who were more comfortable with the Internet and those between the ages of 45 and 54 were also more prepared to pay for online content.