You feel excited to watch races and bet on them in racecourses, but you might also be worried about whether you can bet as you intended. Since it’s obviously challenging to master all the Japanese gambling words, some of the most frequently used ones are picked out below so that they will help you have great experiences at racecourses and bet on races, hopefully without any trouble.
(1)Tan-sho (Tan=single, sho=win, 単勝)
win
You know that win is the simplest way to bet in any race gambling. If digesting all the information on races takes a lot of time due to linguistic barriers, you should bet on win. I always do that way overseas :-).
Note that :
- You can’t bet on win at bicycle racing.
- Your bet on win sometimes greatly influences its odds at boat racing and motorcycle racing. Only a few fans bet on win at both gamblings and the majority bet on trifecta.
How to use in checkout counters :
San-race, tan-sho, 1, 2,000 yen, sorekara, 5, 1,000 yen. ijyou-desu.
(Race number three, win, 1, 2,000 yen, and 5, 1,000 yen. That’s it.)
(2) San-rentan (San=three, rentan=picked in the right order, ３連単)
trifecta
This is the most popular method in any of the four types of race gambling. It could prove that Japanese fans are so mature in betting that they pursue a greater payout even risking themselves at a lower chance of winning. Do you agree with this?
How to use in checkout counters :
Nana-race, san-rentan, 1-2-3, 1,000 yen, 1-3-2 1,000 yen, ijyou-desu.
(Race seven, trifecta, 1-2-3, 1,000 yen, 1-3-2 1,000 yen. That’s it.)
(3) Mark card, Mark sheet (マークカード、マークシート)
an order slip for betting
Mark cards could be standard in foreign countries, but “mark sheets” are also widely used in Japan.
I have visited some race courses in Europe where people verbally tell the cashiers their order for betting, and they don’t use mark cards. Fans who enjoy betting in those countries might have never used mark cards. The following JRA materials show what mark cards are like and how they are used. Motorboat, bicycle, and motorcycle racing provide mark cards of their own forms, but the general design and listed options are approximately identical to the JRA card.
How to use in checkout counters :
Mark card no kakikata wo oshiete kudasai.
(Would you tell me how to fill out mark cards?)
(4) Net Tohyo (Net=the internet, Tohyo=betting, ネット投票)
online betting
Betting online has been gaining popularity, and roughly 80% of sales come from online in any of the four types of race gambling. Some racing organizers reward fans who regularly bet online, which has contributed to shifting fans from betting at checkout counters to online betting.
(5)Sports Shimbun (Shimbun=newspaper, スポーツ新聞)
newspaper that mainly covers topics on sports, show businesses, and gambling and is available at around one U.S. dollar at convenience stores and station stalls.
Sports shimbun deals with almost all the race programs of the day. Gambling fans routinely buy their favorite sports shimbun on the way to racecourses. However, those customs are uncommon nowadays because most fans refer to information on their smartphone.
You might also see another form of newspaper in Japan, called Senmon-shi. It deals explicitly with races for a specific race course on a particular day. It’s available at around 5.5 U.S. dollars.