Japanese Soccer BettingThe Soccerphile World Cup 2002 Archives Click here to go to the current Soccerphile.com
Japanese Soccer Betting
Nik Yasko takes a look at how to get rich quick.
The name of the first legalized soccer gambling system in Japan is “Toto,”
taken from the Italian term for soccer gambling, “Totocalcio.”
Toto is a soccer lottery based on the results of each round of
matches in Japan's professional soccer league called J-League. There are twenty-eight teams in the two divisions, and punters must try to correctly
guess the outcome of thirteen of the fourteen matches. There are three
prizes.
First prize is paid to those who guess the correct outcome of all the selected matches. This tops out at a cool 100 million yen. On 5 April 2001 five people won the top prize, 328 players won 704,999 yen for guessing correctly on twelve matches, and over six thousand people won 52,460 yen for identifying the result of eleven matches. As in Italy, when the results contain few upsets, the amount awarded for the top prize can be embarrassingly low. For example, on 12 April over sixteen thousand people won the first prize, but it turned out to be worth only a paltry 45,313 yen. Imagine the elation of getting all thirteen matches right, thinking that early retirement is only a few days away, only to find that the cash prize won't even buy a Gucci bag.
There is no explanation in English in the how-to guides. Nor is there
on the rather primitive website, though the results and the number of
winners can be found there.
More difficult to find are Toto outlets themselves.
Convenience stores do not carry the lottery, presumably in an attempt to discourage those who are underage from playing, but black and yellow flags with “Toto” written on them can be found in front of bakeries, gas stations, electronics shops, and, most frequently, ordinary lottery booths. Betting slips, along with schedules and how-to pamphlets are available outside these locations.
There is an intimidating computer screen framed in yellow plastic at many Toto locations, but this machine merely functions as a cash register.
After marking the betting slips, just hand them to the official Toto personnel behind the counter. Betting is based on the home team. Mark a “one” to identify the home team as the winner, a “two” to identify the home team as the loser, and a “0” for a draw. Players also have to mark a box on the far right margin to certify that they are over nineteen.
There are two types of betting slips: “single” and “multiple.” Those who like to gamble but are not necessarily interested in soccer can simply mark the “1,000 random” box on the single option, guess the outcome of just one match, pay one thousand yen, and let the computer make the rest of the difficult decisions. The multiple option is more difficult because players must calculate the price of the card for themselves. Essentially, the multiple option lets players eliminate difficult matches on the schedule by allowing players to pick the home team to both win and lose, or to win, lose, and draw. Naturally, playing the multiple option can get expensive quickly. The price for playing the maximum amount of multiple options is 9,600 yen.
Gambling profits from the soccer lottery are to be spent on improving and creating new sports facilities for amateur players of all sports throughout the nation.
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