Single-match prediction lottery WINNER launched

The Japan Sport Council (JSC) started sales of a new sports lottery called WINNER in September 2022, according to a press report on September 7, 2022¹. The lottery covers matches in the J.League, Japan's professional football league, and the men's B.League basketball competition¹. It is the first basketball lottery in Japan, added to the permitted sports after an amendment to the Sports Promotion Voting Act¹.

Players predict the result or the winning team of a single match, with the number of options set by score bands: 18 choices for J.League fixtures and 16 for B.League fixtures¹. Sales were scheduled to begin alongside the B.League season opener on September 29, with J.League sales starting in the same period¹. The JSC said the aim was to increase sales to secure a stable sports funding source for regional facility development and similar purposes¹.

The JSC later confirmed that WINNER sales began in September of the 2022 fiscal year, describing it as a single-match prediction lottery that many customers enjoyed, particularly around Japan national team matches at the football World Cup². Total sports lottery sales for that year were about 111.4 billion yen, the third-highest on record and the third consecutive year above 100 billion yen².

It also cited the stable staging of J.League and B.League fixtures without major disruption².

A later government evaluation of the JSC's fiscal 2023 operations, covering the year to March 2024, listed among its improvement points the need to raise awareness of WINNER and to expand its sales³. The same document referred to WINNER as a new product launched at the end of September in the 2022 fiscal year³. The evaluation did not give a WINNER sales figure for fiscal 2023.

What it means for players

The choice count depends on the sport and on how the score bands are divided, 18 options for J.League and 16 for B.League¹. Because it is a JSC product, it sits inside Japan's state-run sports lottery system rather than the private betting market, and the money raised feeds sports funding rather than a commercial bookmaker². Details of prize tiers, payout rates and how winnings are claimed are not set out in these sources.

What happens next

The government's evaluation of the JSC's fiscal 2023 performance called for work to raise WINNER's recognition and grow its sales³. No further product changes, prize adjustments or sales targets for WINNER have been reported.