NZ Examines Minorities Gambling Habits
Poverty and alienation are part of the reason Maori, Pacific Island and Asian people are driven to gamble more than Pakeha New Zealanders, a Problem Gambling Foundation psychologist said. Additionally, a 1999 New Zealand government study found that these two groups made up 44 percent of problem gamblers on the island nation. Pacific Island peoples, meanwhile, use their gambling winnings to make donations to their churches, the psychologist added.
The Problem Gambling Foundation, which has also made a submission to New Zealand's gaming law review, is calling for the government to do more to fight problem gambling. They recommend, among other things, that the government put a cap on the number of gambling machines in New Zealand and also that more money be directed for problem gambling treatment.
How Black is Japan's Black Economy?
A report by Japan's Hamagin Research Institute shows that tax evasion, gangster activities, gambling, drugs and prostitution--key ingredients for the local "black economy"--totaled $194 billion (23.2 trillion yen) in 1999. These unregulated and illegal activities represent nearly 5 percent of the nation's output, and compare to the amount of money spent on housing in Japan each year.
"No one realizes the influence of the underground economy," the report's author, Takashi Kadokur, told CNN. "Many people think that Japan is a clean country and that common people do not engage in such underground activity."
The report shows, however, that nearly one in five Japanese play pachinko in gambling parlors, resulting in annual profits for the game topping 20 trillion yen annually. Gangsters-- commonly known as "yazuka gangsters"--account for nearly one-fifth of Japan's underground activities, with drug trafficking being the most common crime. One economist told CNN, "The role of organized crime is enormous. The Japanese government approach is that vice will always exist. Better for it to be organized than unorganized."
While the economist suggested that several factors have been hampering the black economy's growth of late, the Internet, with its ability to provide anonymity and opaque transactions, could revitalize its profit-making capabilities.
Low Income Users Comprise Largest of Brits’ Internet Groups
More than a quarter of all British Internet users earn less than 600 pounds a month, while those that earn more than £4,000 per month represent 8.3 percent of the group, NetValue researchers have discovered. "The Internet is not reserved for a rich elite," a company spokesperson commented. "These figures show that the Web is being welcomed by low income earners. Online businesses have to recognize that the Internet market is every bit as diverse as the high street market, and not limited to big earners."
NetValue also found that there were 800,000 new home Internet users in April, driving the national total past 13.5 million home users. Since January 1, more than 2.3 million new users have logged on at home.
In addition, nearly 18 million Brits connect with the Internet anywhere, including home, work, school and Internet cafes. Among these surfers, 45.5 percent connected only from home, while 18.2 percent accessed the WWW at home and work. Plus, 12.6 percent of these users surfed only while at work.
iTV Anyone?
Two recently released reports from Datamonitor show a bright future for gaming via interactive television. "The television has traditionally been the center of entertainment in the home and this will help the rapid uptake of iTV applications," maintains one Datamonitor analyst. "Interactive TV will overtake the PC as the platform of choice for casual gaming and it will be imperative that games industry players focus their strategy on the television audience."
Analysts for Datamonitor estimate that by 2006 gaming through iTV will generate $2.7 billion in revenues in the U.S. and Europe. In addition, the number of players will increase from the current 13 million to more than 111 million in 2005.