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Australia says no to Blatter’s FIFA re-election campaign

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Canberra: Football Federation of Australia (FFA) chairman Frank Lowy said he will not vote for besieged FIFA president Sepp Blatter in Friday’s presidential vote.

President of the Federation International de Football Association (FIFA) for the past 17 years, Blatter is running for a fifth term.

He remains defiant in the face of growing pressure to step aside after seven high-ranking FIFA officials were arrested on corruption charges in Zurich on Wednesday.

After conducting a round of meetings in Zurich on Thursday, Lowy released a statement early on Friday, saying it was time for a change at the top of FIFA, a news agency reported.

“FFA believes that profound change within FIFA is needed as soon as possible to address issues of governance and transparency, ” Lowy said.

“This belief will be reflected when Australia casts its vote in the presidential election, should it proceed on Friday in Zurich.”

Blatter’s only opponent is Prince Ali bin Al-Hussein, the head of the Jordan Football Association, and the founder of the West Asian Football Federation.

Prince Ali has remained a vocal advocate for the game in Asia and was instrumental in removing FIFA’s ban on the hijab, saying it would see “happy players returning to the field and playing the game they love.”

Lowy said having reviewed the candidacy of Prince Ali, FFA believes the Jordanian can lead the world football body into a new era.

“The Board of FFA has reviewed the manifesto for change proposed by Prince Ali bin Al-Hussein and believes it provides the basis for a fresh start for FIFA,” Lowy said.

FFA itself is under scrutiny for not informing the Australian Federal Police (AFP) about missing funds paid to suspected corrupt former FIFA executive Jack Warner.

The Federation gave $3,75,000 to Warner, ostensibly to fund new football facilities in his homeland of Trinidad and Tobago, but that money was allegedly siphoned off into one of Warner’s private bank accounts.

FFA defended itself on Friday by saying FIFA had warned it against reporting the matter to the Australian or US police.

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Casino Days Reveal Internal Data on Most Popular Smartphones

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CasinoDays India

International online casino Casino Days has published a report sharing their internal data on what types and brands of devices are used to play on the platform by users from the South Asian region.

Such aggregate data analyses allow the operator to optimise their website for the brands and models of devices people are actually using.

The insights gained through the research also help Casino Days tailor their services based on the better understanding of their clients and their needs.

Desktops and Tablets Lose the Battle vs Mobile

The primary data samples analysed by Casino Days reveal that mobile connections dominate the market in South Asia and are responsible for a whopping 96.6% of gaming sessions, while computers and tablets have negligible shares of 2.9% and 0.5% respectively.

CasinoDays India

The authors of the study point out that historically, playing online casino was exclusively done on computers, and attribute thе major shift to mobile that has unfolded over time to the wide spread of cheaper smartphones and mobile data plans in South Asia.

“Some of the reasons behind this massive difference in device type are affordability, technical advantages, as well as cheaper and more obtainable internet plans for mobiles than those for computers,” the researchers comment.

Xiaomi and Vivo Outperform Samsung, Apple Way Down in Rankings

Chinese brands Xiaomi and Vivo were used by 21.9% and 20.79% of Casino Days players from South Asia respectively, and together with the positioned in third place with a 18.1% share South Korean brand Samsung dominate the market among real money gamers in the region.

 

CasinoDays India

Cupertino, California-based Apple is way down in seventh with a user share of just 2.29%, overshadowed by Chinese brands Realme (11.43%), OPPO (11.23%), and OnePlus (4.07%).

Huawei is at the very bottom of the chart with a tiny share just below the single percent mark, trailing behind mobile devices by Motorola, Google, and Infinix.

The data on actual phone usage provided by Casino Days, even though limited to the gaming parts of the population of South Asia, paints a different picture from global statistics on smartphone shipments by vendors.

Apple and Samsung have been sharing the worldwide lead for over a decade, while current regional leader Xiaomi secured their third position globally just a couple of years ago.

Striking Android Dominance among South Asian Real Money Gaming Communities

The shifted market share patterns of the world’s top smartphone brands in South Asia observed by the Casino Days research paper reveal a striking dominance of Android devices at the expense of iOS-powered phones.

On the global level, Android enjoys a comfortable lead with a sizable 68.79% share which grows to nearly 79% when we look at the whole continent of Asia. The data on South Asian real money gaming communities suggests that Android’s dominance grows even higher and is north of the 90% mark.

Among the major factors behind these figures, the authors of the study point to the relative affordability of and greater availability of Android devices in the region, especially when manufactured locally in countries like India and Vietnam.

“And, with influencers and tech reviews putting emphasis on Android devices, the choice of mobile phone brand and OS becomes easy; Android has a much wider range of products and caters to the Asian online casino market in ways that Apple can’t due to technical limitations,” the researchers add.

The far better integration achieved by Google Pay compared to its counterpart Apple Pay has also played a crucial role in shaping the existing smartphone market trends.

 

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