The sports lottery is slated to be officially launched by April 15 next year at the latest, Chen told the Central News Agency in an interview. The Sports Affairs Council is currently in charge of planning the matter, he said.

Expressing his great disappointment in the latest scandal, Chen said that previous baseball fixing scandals have caused a sharp drop in game attendance to 2,000 people per game.

Chen noted that Taiwan has produced many outstanding baseball players, some of whom are currently working for other countries' baseball teams. Such a scandal will hurt the image of these overseas baseball players and Taiwan's baseball sector, he went on.