What you are looking at is Taiwan's sports lottery. Don't let the name fool you, it is really just government run sports gambling.
Illegal sports gambling used to run rampant in Taiwan, and was so influential that players in Taiwan's baseball league were paid a lot of money to throw games. So in stepped the government with their sports lottery.
It's not very popular though, with the main reason being that it offers such low pay offs. it also has a lot of rules, for example you usually have to bet on multiple games rather than just one. Meaning that people just place bets with organized crime groups, or most bet on online foreign betting/gambling websites. Obviously both of these things are illegal, but very hard to police.
The people who do use the sports lottery are generally those who don't have access to a bank account and who are scared of dealing with organized crime. If you guess women and kids, than you'd be right. Quite a few junior high and high school kids will bet on the games (getting somebody else to place their bets for them). And believe it or not I've met more than a few women who bet on games.
The one thing the sports lottery has going for it is that they are everywhere. Every time I'm out walking my dog I think I should stop in and make a bet on an american football game. I know they do offer bets on the nba and mlb, but i'm not sure if they do the nfl, nhl, and the various soccer leagues around the globe. But man with the way the Heat are playing, it's as if Lebron wants me to place a bet.
