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ED seeks details of Goa Louis Berger bribery case

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Panaji: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) in Goa is keen on probing the money laundering angle in the Louis Berger bribery case, in which a former PWD minister has been already been arrested.

An ED official on condition of anonymity told that the central government agency had sought a copy of the First Information Report filed by the Crime Branch, in connection with the $976,630 bribe paid by Louis Berger officials in 2010 to Goan politicians and bureaucrats.

The bribe was paid in order to secure implementation rights for a Rs.1,031 crore worth water and sewage management project funded by the Japan International Co-operation Agency (JICA).

“We have not received the FIR yet. We will evaluate whether to register the case under the Money Laundering Act,” the ED official said.

Police have maintained that former Public Works Department minister Churchill Alemao and then chief minister Digambar Kamat have allegedly received bribes in installments through a ‘hawala’ channel from ex-Louis Berger officials to secure the consultancy deal in 2010.

While Alemao was arrested on Wednesday, Kamat, who has been questioned on two occasions, has secured interim bail. Both have denied accepting bribes to finalise the consultancy deal.

Police, who have also arrested an ex-director of the JICA-funded project Anan Wachasundar and former India head of Louis Berger Satyakam Mohanty, claim that they have established the ‘hawala’ money trail from the Gulf region to Delhi, Jaipur and Goa.

In a speech to BJP workers on Sunday near here Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar promised Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar of all possible help from central agencies like the ED, department of income tax and the Central Bureau of Investigation to nail corrupt deals struck by Congress leaders.

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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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