Bingo 5

Bingo 5 is one of Japan's most distinctive lottery games. Instead of simply picking numbers from a list, you fill in a card that looks like the bingo board you may know from bingo halls, and you win by completing lines vertically, horizontally or diagonally. It costs JPY 200 per entry, draws are held every Wednesday, and tickets are easy to find at lottery booths, convenience stores and online. It sits alongside Loto 6, Loto 7 and Numbers 3 and Numbers 4 in Japan's family of number-selection lotteries, and you can read about the wider system in our guide to the Japan lottery.

What Bingo 5 is and how it works

Bingo 5 is a number-selection lottery in which you match numbers vertically, horizontally and diagonally, in the spirit of a bingo game¹. Rather than choosing six or seven numbers from a single pool, as in Loto 6 or Loto 7, you work with a 3x3 grid of nine squares. The center square is a FREE cell, and each of the other eight squares contains a list of five numbers. You pick one number from each of those eight squares, for a total of eight chosen numbers³.

The game launched nationwide in April 2017 as a number-selection lottery, making it one of the newer games in the Japanese public lottery lineup⁴. It is run as part of the takarakuji system, the public lottery operated by Japan's local governments, so the money from ticket sales flows into public finances rather than to a private operator. If you want the background on how that system works, see our page on takarakuji, the Japanese public lotteries.

The bingo mechanic is what makes the game feel different from other Japanese lotteries. In a Loto game, you either match the winning numbers or you do not. In Bingo 5, the draw fills in a grid, and your card wins prizes based on how many lines you complete, which gives you several ways to win something on a single JPY 200 entry.

How to fill in a card: numbers, the FREE cell and lines

The Bingo 5 card is a 3x3 grid, three squares across and three down, for nine squares in total³. The center square is marked FREE and is treated as automatically filled, so you never choose a number there. Each of the remaining eight squares has five printed numbers in it, and you select one number from each square, giving you your eight numbers for the entry³.

The FREE cell in the middle counts toward your lines. That means the middle row, the middle column and both diagonals each need only two of your numbers to match the draw, since the FREE square is already complete. The top and bottom rows and the left and right columns need all three of their squares to match. This is the same principle as the free space in the center of a Western bingo card, which is considered automatically filled⁵.

When you buy at a booth, you mark your choices on the card with a pencil or pen, much as you would mark a Loto 6 slip. There is no computer quick-pick option listed in the official Bingo 5 rules, so plan to choose your own numbers. If you are used to games like toto or BIG, where random selection is common, this is one point where Bingo 5 differs.

What you can win: the seven prize tiers

Bingo 5 has seven prize tiers, and the amounts are set as theoretical values that move with each draw. The headline figures are:

The first prize of about JPY 5,550,000 is a theoretical value, not a guaranteed amount¹. The actual prize money varies with each draw depending on the total sales for that round and the number of winning entries². If many people win, each winner receives less; if few win, each receives more. The seventh prize of JPY 200 is fixed in principle, which means it simply returns your stake².

Because the amounts move with sales and winners, there is no published "biggest prize ever" figure for Bingo 5 in the official materials. What you can count on is the structure: a top prize in the millions of yen for a full card, and a fixed JPY 200 at the bottom so that a near-miss card is not a total loss.

What a ticket costs

One entry costs JPY 200¹. That is the same price as an entry in Loto 6 and the Numbers games, and cheaper than Loto 7 at JPY 300 per entry⁶. At JPY 200, Bingo 5 is one of the cheapest ways to play a Japanese lottery with a multi-million-yen top prize, and the low entry price is part of the game's appeal.

You can buy multiple entries, and many players do, since each entry is an independent card. There is no discount for buying in bulk; ten entries simply cost JPY 2,000.

Draw schedule and where the draw takes place

The Bingo 5 draw is held every Wednesday, except during the New Year period when Japanese lottery operations pause². That weekly rhythm is faster than Loto 6 or Loto 7, which draw once or twice a week, and it means you never wait long for a result.

The draw takes place in principle at Tokyo Takarakuji Dream Hall, the dedicated lottery draw venue in Tokyo, and for limited periods it is held at Osaka Takarakuji Dream Hall instead². The draw event is streamed live on the internet, so you can watch the numbers come out in real time from anywhere¹. Watching the stream is also a good way to understand the game if you are new to it, since you can see the grid fill in line by line.

Where to buy tickets

Bingo 5 is on sale all year round in principle at three kinds of outlet³:

• Lottery booths
• The official lottery website
• Some convenience stores

Lottery booths are the small kiosks you see outside train stations, shopping streets and city offices, often marked with a red and white sign. These booths sell the full range of public lottery games, including ordinary lotteries such as Jumbo Takarakuji, the Loto games, Bingo 5, Numbers and Quick One⁷. Booth staff are used to first-timers and will help you mark a card if you are unsure.

Convenience stores sell Bingo 5 at some locations, not all. The major chains participate in lottery sales, but availability varies by store and by game, so do not assume every Lawson or FamilyMart counter can sell you a Bingo 5 ticket.

The official lottery website sells Bingo 5 online, which we cover in the next section.

One thing to note: Bingo 5 is not sold at bank ATMs. ATM sales are listed for Loto 6 and Loto 7, which can be bought at the ATMs of some banks, but Bingo 5's official channels are booths, the official site and some convenience stores only¹.

Buying online: registration and sales hours

You can buy Bingo 5 on the official lottery website, and purchases are possible 24 hours a day, in principle all year round⁸. To buy online you first complete member registration on the official site, after which you can purchase whenever you like⁷. The official site sells the full range of games, so the same account lets you play Loto, Numbers and the big Jumbo lotteries as well as Bingo 5⁷.

Online buying is the most convenient option if you do not live near a booth or if you want to play outside booth opening hours. Payments and ticket management are handled through the site, and your entries are recorded digitally, so there is no paper ticket to keep safe.

For context, Japan's lottery and sports-betting sites generally operate on this around-the-clock model: the official takarakuji site and its partner internet banking sales sites allow purchases 24 hours a day⁹, and the sports lottery sites such as the toto official site run the same way, with cutoffs tied to match kickoff times rather than fixed hours. Bingo 5's online sales are not tied to any event schedule, so the practical limit is simply the sales period for the round you want to enter. Check the current round's dates before you buy, since each round closes before its Wednesday draw.

Checking results and how prizes are paid

Winning numbers can be checked through Mizuho Bank's winning number guide, the long-standing official channel for Japanese lottery results¹. Results are also published on the official lottery website after each draw, and since the draw is streamed live online, you can often see the outcome as it happens¹.

Prize amounts for each tier are announced with the results. Remember that the first through sixth prizes are theoretical values that adjust with sales and the number of winners, while the seventh prize is fixed at JPY 200².

Prizes are paid through the standard Japanese lottery channels. Small prizes can typically be claimed at the booth where lotteries are sold, while larger prizes go through Mizuho Bank, which administers the public lottery system. Keep your paper ticket safe if you buy at a booth, since the ticket itself is the only proof of your entry. Online purchases are simpler in this respect, because your entries are tied to your member account.

Who can play

Bingo 5 is a public lottery sold openly at booths, convenience stores and the official website, and there is nothing in the game's rules that restricts it to Japanese citizens. Visitors and foreign residents in Japan can buy tickets in the same way as anyone else: walk up to a booth, mark a card, and pay JPY 200 in cash. Online purchase requires member registration on the official Japanese-language site, which is the main practical hurdle for non-Japanese speakers. Playing the public lottery in Japan is an ordinary, legal pastime, and Bingo 5 is one of its most accessible games.