Even today, racecourses are an antiquated place where visitors are required to pay by cash. Remember to exchange your currency into Japanese yen or withdraw it at an ATM to bring some notes and coins to racecourses.
The first thing you should do in racecourses is to pay admission at the gate. Admission is 50 yen, 100 yen, or 200 yen, depending on the course. You usually insert a coin into a slot at the gate. Some racecourses, including all five racecourses of motorcycle race (Autorace), don’t require admission. In addition, some racecourses allow fans to enter for free after over half of the day’s races have finished.
Please note that none of the racecourses offering “Midnight races” of motorboat racing, bicycle racing, or motorcycle racing admit fans. They are considerate to residents near the racecourses and don’t want them to be annoyed by visitors’ traffic late at night.
Once you decide your bet, you feed money and betting mark sheets into a vending machine. Or you can also hand them to cashiers at a teller window. Vending machines and cashiers don’t accept credit cards, IC cards, or foreign currencies. The description on the betting mark sheets is generally Japanese, so translation apps on smartphones help a lot.
Some racecourses have introduced an in-house betting system that allows regular fans to bet using a prepaid card. Although filling out the application form takes some time and effort, the local prepaid card could be useful if you visit the racecourse repeatedly or bet frequently.
In fact, there is an exceptional racecourse that doesn’t accept cash. A bicycle racecourse, “PIST6” in Chiba, requires visitors to pay admission and bet online. Furthermore, visitors buy snacks and drinks by credit or IC cards. PIST6 was fully renovated in 2021 to be a highly advanced bicycle racecourse that has embraced a variety of technologies.