As in most countries, the lottery has been popular among Japanese people. It is called Takara-Kuji (Takara=fortune, Kuji=lottery). People usually buy it at lottery stalls on the streets or in shopping malls. According to the survey results in 2022, more than 80% of Japanese people have bought the lottery more than once in their lifetime, and around 50% have done it within the past year.
In particular, they are excited about a special lottery, “Nenmatsu-Jumbo (Nenmatsu=year-ending, Jumbo=a big win),” sold at the end of the year because its first prize fetches one billion yen. Every media outlet begins airing advertisements for this particular lottery in December. Some people ask their friends and coworkers if they’ve bought it yet. Those talks are a kind of “ritual” commonly seen among everyday Japanese people around the end of the year. It also helps them recognize that time flies and the year will end soon.
In sports, you also see some sort of lottery in Japan for football and basketball games. Interestingly, you never see a “Sports betting” description in the media. It probably stems from the fact that the lottery for both games doesn’t have any laws that support it as gambling. Plus, it seemingly aims to avoid being labeled as gambling to get regular people more interested in it.
What about the baseball games? You know that baseball is the most popular sport in Japan. At the moment, there isn’t any lottery in baseball games. In reality, some people privately bet on them only with coworkers or friends. And underground groups have offered betting services to gambling addicts for years as a means of raising funds.