The Whole Picture of Race Betting in Japan

You might think that Japanese citizens are diligent and punctual in general. Plus, you also might believe that they all work hard for longer hours and even hate spending hours on unproductive and disadvantageous things, like gambling. That’s true in some aspects, but not always true.

Japan has as many as four types of gambling that are held in race courses. And the number of race courses amounts to nearly one hundred in total. Additionally, some of them are unique to Japan, and I don’t remember you experiencing them in countries other than Japan. Although you might have thought that the U.K. citizens are the most enthusiastic about gambling in the world, Japan is the same as the U.K. in terms of enthusiasm for gambling. What will impress you most is the fact that each of the four types of gambling offers races every day throughout the year!

The following are four types of races for Betting held in Japan.

1. Horse Racing (Keiba)

Horse racing is definitely the most common and popular gambling in Japan, as it is in other countries. There are two organizers, JRA(Japan Racing Association) and NRA(the National Association of Racing). JRA has 10 race courses, while NRA has 15 courses. Their combined annual sales were about 4.4 trillion yen in 2023. It is the largest among the four types of race gambling in Japan. You see female jockeys and international jockeys.

The race of 91th Nippon derby at Tokyo racecourse on May 26th, 2024.
2. Boat Racing (Boatrace, formerly known as Kyotei)

It has 24 boat racing courses. Some are in the sea, and the others are in lakes or rivers. Races are held in 10 race courses on average in a day. Regarding boat racing, some people imagine speedboats racing on the water at more than 200km/h. On the contrary, the boats for Japanese boat racing race at 70 km/h. It’s two meters long and driven and tuned by boat racers. Around 260 boat racers among 1,600 are female and sometimes participate in races with male racers. It is the second most popular gambling after horse racing. The sales for the year of 2023 was about 2.4 trillion yen.

This video was recorded with a camera attached to a boat that one of the top racers at Biwako racecourse drove.
3. Bicycle Racing(Keirin)

You can imagine how bicycle races go because they are done overseas in the name of Keirin, and it is one of the bicycle events on track in the Olympic games. It has 40 race courses and around 2,400 racers. About 170 of the 2,400 are female, and their races are independent from males. That’s the difference from boat racing, in which fans see races both female racers and male racers compete against. It made about 1.2 trillion yen in sales in 2023.

Bycicle races of female races relaunched in 2012 for the first time in 48 years.
4. Motorcycle Racing(Auto Race)

Motorcycle racing could be the least familiar among the four types of racing. You can’t imagine how its races go. Yes, even some Japanese people have difficulties :-). There are five race courses and about 400 races, including 20 females. Its sales were about 109 billion yen in 2023.

Above is an exhibition of race by female races. You can change the direction of your view by dragging the movie.