Sunday, June 27, 2004
Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News CoverageBy Simon Evans
PORTO, June 27 (Reuters) - Something happens to Czech Republic striker Milan Baros when he pulls on his country's shirt -- he remembers how to score goals.
The 22-year-old managed only a single goal for Liverpool in the premier league last season but his two strikes in the 3-0 Euro 2004 quarter-final win over Denmark on Sunday made him the leading scorer in the tournament with five goals.
Baros moved ahead of England's Wayne Rooney and Dutch forward Ruud van Nistelrooy, who have both claimed four goals.
Rooney, who plays for Liverpool's city rivals Everton, has no chance to add to his tally since England were eliminated in the quarter-finals by the hosts but Van Nistelrooy still has Wednesday's semi-final against Portugal to look forward to.
"For me to have five goals after the quarter-finals -- well, if you had told me that before I came here I wouldn't have believed you," said Baros.
"But the most important thing is that we are through to play Greece in four days' time and that is going to be a very big and very difficult game for us."
Baros's goals, which earned his team a semi-final against Greece on Thursday, came inside two minutes midway through the second half against Denmark.
He is the only player to have scored in each game his team have played at the tournament and is now one match away from equalling French playmaker Michel Platini's record of scoring in five consecutive European Championship finals matches in 1984.
Strangely, Baros has always found it easier to score in international football than domestic league action.
Since making his debut in the 1998-99 season for Banik Ostrava, the Czech club who discovered him, he has managed just 33 goals in Czech and English club football.
But for his country he has been prolific, scoring 21 times in 29 matches, including 11 in his last 10 outings for Karel Brueckner's side.
SUPREMELY CONFIDENT
For a player coming into Euro 2004 with just that single goal in 13 league appearances for Liverpool after recovering from an ankle injury, Baros has looked supremely confident.
As soon as he linked up with Brueckner, who schooled him in the Czech Under-21 side, Baros started scoring again with a goal against Bulgaria and then two against Estonia in the pre-tournament warm-ups.
In the opening Group D game against Latvia, Baros equalised in the 73rd minute before the Czechs won 2-1 and in a thrilling 3-2 comeback victory over the Netherlands he again levelled before his Liverpool team mate Vladimir Smicer got the winner.
With qualification already in the bag, he started on the bench for the final group game against Germany but came on after an hour and promptly grabbed the winner in the 77th minute.
Not surprisingly, Baros was oozing with self-belief against the Danes and, crucially, given the kind of service a striker can thrive on.
Jan Koller opened the scoring early in the second half before Baros made it 2-0 in the 63rd minute, lifting the ball over the advancing Danish goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen after Karel Poborsky had picked out his run with a perfectly delivered pass.
Another great through ball, this time from European Footballer of the Year Pavel Nedved, set up Baros's second goal which he instinctively blasted home from inside the box.
"They were both beautiful goals but the first was more important because it made it 2-0 for us, and we knew that would probably do it," said Baros.
With the game safe, Brueckner, an eye already on Thursday's semi-final against Greece, opted to take Baros off just five minutes after his second goal.
While the Czech supporters sang Baros's name after he was nominated man of the match, the striker chose to give credit to his partner Koller.
"It was a great game for the Czechs. We are in the semi-final so I am happy with that," he said, adding that his team mates would not underestimate the Greeks on Thursday.
"Greece beat France (in the quarter-finals) and played very well," said Baros. "They have a good defence and they're strong and it will be a different game.
"We have to go game by game. I don't think we are favourites."
The bookmakers disagree and have installed the Czechs as 11-8 favourites. Baros is a big part of the reason why.
PORTO, June 27 (Reuters) - Something happens to Czech Republic striker Milan Baros when he pulls on his country's shirt -- he remembers how to score goals.
The 22-year-old managed only a single goal for Liverpool in the premier league last season but his two strikes in the 3-0 Euro 2004 quarter-final win over Denmark on Sunday made him the leading scorer in the tournament with five goals.
Baros moved ahead of England's Wayne Rooney and Dutch forward Ruud van Nistelrooy, who have both claimed four goals.
Rooney, who plays for Liverpool's city rivals Everton, has no chance to add to his tally since England were eliminated in the quarter-finals by the hosts but Van Nistelrooy still has Wednesday's semi-final against Portugal to look forward to.
"For me to have five goals after the quarter-finals -- well, if you had told me that before I came here I wouldn't have believed you," said Baros.
"But the most important thing is that we are through to play Greece in four days' time and that is going to be a very big and very difficult game for us."
Baros's goals, which earned his team a semi-final against Greece on Thursday, came inside two minutes midway through the second half against Denmark.
He is the only player to have scored in each game his team have played at the tournament and is now one match away from equalling French playmaker Michel Platini's record of scoring in five consecutive European Championship finals matches in 1984.
Strangely, Baros has always found it easier to score in international football than domestic league action.
Since making his debut in the 1998-99 season for Banik Ostrava, the Czech club who discovered him, he has managed just 33 goals in Czech and English club football.
But for his country he has been prolific, scoring 21 times in 29 matches, including 11 in his last 10 outings for Karel Brueckner's side.
SUPREMELY CONFIDENT
For a player coming into Euro 2004 with just that single goal in 13 league appearances for Liverpool after recovering from an ankle injury, Baros has looked supremely confident.
As soon as he linked up with Brueckner, who schooled him in the Czech Under-21 side, Baros started scoring again with a goal against Bulgaria and then two against Estonia in the pre-tournament warm-ups.
In the opening Group D game against Latvia, Baros equalised in the 73rd minute before the Czechs won 2-1 and in a thrilling 3-2 comeback victory over the Netherlands he again levelled before his Liverpool team mate Vladimir Smicer got the winner.
With qualification already in the bag, he started on the bench for the final group game against Germany but came on after an hour and promptly grabbed the winner in the 77th minute.
Not surprisingly, Baros was oozing with self-belief against the Danes and, crucially, given the kind of service a striker can thrive on.
Jan Koller opened the scoring early in the second half before Baros made it 2-0 in the 63rd minute, lifting the ball over the advancing Danish goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen after Karel Poborsky had picked out his run with a perfectly delivered pass.
Another great through ball, this time from European Footballer of the Year Pavel Nedved, set up Baros's second goal which he instinctively blasted home from inside the box.
"They were both beautiful goals but the first was more important because it made it 2-0 for us, and we knew that would probably do it," said Baros.
With the game safe, Brueckner, an eye already on Thursday's semi-final against Greece, opted to take Baros off just five minutes after his second goal.
While the Czech supporters sang Baros's name after he was nominated man of the match, the striker chose to give credit to his partner Koller.
"It was a great game for the Czechs. We are in the semi-final so I am happy with that," he said, adding that his team mates would not underestimate the Greeks on Thursday.
"Greece beat France (in the quarter-finals) and played very well," said Baros. "They have a good defence and they're strong and it will be a different game.
"We have to go game by game. I don't think we are favourites."
The bookmakers disagree and have installed the Czechs as 11-8 favourites. Baros is a big part of the reason why.
Channelnewsasia.com
Asia's underground bookies emerge online, industry calls for legalisation
SINGAPORE : As underground bookies in Asia increasingly look outside the region for online gambling licenses, big gaming companies are urging Asian governments to fully legalise internet betting.
The Asian betting industry rakes in about 100 billion US dollars annually, 80 percent of which comes from illegal transactions, according to the managing director of UK-based online betting company BetFair Asia, Tim Levene.
Advertisement
"There is absolutely no doubt that the illegal market is a hundred thousand times bigger than the existing legal market," Levene told a gaming conference in Singapore last week.
"From a governmental point of view, and I think if you spoke to authorities, it is a nightmare to manage."
The president of gaming consultancy firm Playtech's Asia Pacific division, Tom Hall, told AFP that underground bookies in Asia are voluntarily seeking government regulation by trying to acquire licenses to set up gaming websites.
But because independent gambling operations have not been legalised across most of Asia, these bookies are instead looking towards countries such as Antigua, Costa Rica and Curacao for their licenses, Hall said.
"They don't have to live there to get a license. They have to set up their servers and computers and a small part of their staff in those countries, but most of the operations take place in their own countries," he said.
Online gaming is still a legal grey area in most Asian countries except Hong Kong, where legislation forbids punters to bet with anyone except the Hong Kong Jockey Club.
Hall said the Cagayan Economic Zone in the Philippines is the only jurisdiction in Asia that is allowed to publicly issue "interactive gaming licenses".
But because the legislation is still new, it has not yet begun granting licenses.
Hall and other pro-gaming advocates said that if governments do not start regulating the market soon, they will continue to lose out on tax revenue while doing little to control the explosive growth of underground sports betting.
For example, Hall said the ongoing European football championships are pulling in twice as much in underground betting revenues as the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea.
And on an average weekend during the European soccer season, the eight or nine major underground bookies in Asia make about 150 million US dollars each, he added.
Asian governments are showing increasing signs that they are prepared to relax their anti-gambling attitudes, with Thailand and even Singapore's conservative government considering allowing casinos on their territories.
But BetFair Asia's Levene reflected industry sentiment in expressing frustration about the pace of change.
"Just to get governments to talk about this is the greatest challenge," he said.
"If you could tell the government they need to have no expertise in sports betting, no expertise in technology, no massive investment and you could eradicate illegal gambling overnight, you would think most governments would take it right out of your hands."
And Levene claimed that as the Asian betting industry grows, the lack of regulation in the market will prove to be an increasing problem for governments.
"There are higher incidences of problem gambling in countries where there is little regulation. The longer you leave it unregulated, the more crime becomes a problem," he said.
Asia's underground bookies emerge online, industry calls for legalisation
SINGAPORE : As underground bookies in Asia increasingly look outside the region for online gambling licenses, big gaming companies are urging Asian governments to fully legalise internet betting.
The Asian betting industry rakes in about 100 billion US dollars annually, 80 percent of which comes from illegal transactions, according to the managing director of UK-based online betting company BetFair Asia, Tim Levene.
Advertisement
"There is absolutely no doubt that the illegal market is a hundred thousand times bigger than the existing legal market," Levene told a gaming conference in Singapore last week.
"From a governmental point of view, and I think if you spoke to authorities, it is a nightmare to manage."
The president of gaming consultancy firm Playtech's Asia Pacific division, Tom Hall, told AFP that underground bookies in Asia are voluntarily seeking government regulation by trying to acquire licenses to set up gaming websites.
But because independent gambling operations have not been legalised across most of Asia, these bookies are instead looking towards countries such as Antigua, Costa Rica and Curacao for their licenses, Hall said.
"They don't have to live there to get a license. They have to set up their servers and computers and a small part of their staff in those countries, but most of the operations take place in their own countries," he said.
Online gaming is still a legal grey area in most Asian countries except Hong Kong, where legislation forbids punters to bet with anyone except the Hong Kong Jockey Club.
Hall said the Cagayan Economic Zone in the Philippines is the only jurisdiction in Asia that is allowed to publicly issue "interactive gaming licenses".
But because the legislation is still new, it has not yet begun granting licenses.
Hall and other pro-gaming advocates said that if governments do not start regulating the market soon, they will continue to lose out on tax revenue while doing little to control the explosive growth of underground sports betting.
For example, Hall said the ongoing European football championships are pulling in twice as much in underground betting revenues as the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea.
And on an average weekend during the European soccer season, the eight or nine major underground bookies in Asia make about 150 million US dollars each, he added.
Asian governments are showing increasing signs that they are prepared to relax their anti-gambling attitudes, with Thailand and even Singapore's conservative government considering allowing casinos on their territories.
But BetFair Asia's Levene reflected industry sentiment in expressing frustration about the pace of change.
"Just to get governments to talk about this is the greatest challenge," he said.
"If you could tell the government they need to have no expertise in sports betting, no expertise in technology, no massive investment and you could eradicate illegal gambling overnight, you would think most governments would take it right out of your hands."
And Levene claimed that as the Asian betting industry grows, the lack of regulation in the market will prove to be an increasing problem for governments.
"There are higher incidences of problem gambling in countries where there is little regulation. The longer you leave it unregulated, the more crime becomes a problem," he said.
