KEIRIN.JP: Online Keirin Betting Accounts Explained

What KEIRIN.JP is and who runs it

KEIRIN.JP is the official online betting site for Japanese keirin, the bicycle racing sport where riders circle a banked track behind a pacemaker before sprinting for the line. The site is run by the Japan National Keirin Association, known as Zenrinkyo, and it is the only official route for betting on keirin from your phone or computer. You can also watch live video on the LIVE mode screen; there is no separate KEIRIN.JP stream⁹.

The site serves two kinds of members. Internet voting members bet through the website, and telephone voting subscribers bet by phone. Both use the same account structure and the same bank setup. If you are an internet voting member, you can also collect KEIRIN Official Points, a loyalty scheme for online members only. Points cannot be used to place bets, and you need a separate point registration to use them¹⁰.

Keirin itself runs year-round at velodromes across Japan, including night races and Midnight Keirin, and all of those meetings can be bought through the same account¹². If you are new to the sport, the warmup before each race is where riders sort out who will sit in which line, and it is the main information-gathering moment for bettors¹³. Races are graded, and some events, such as FII-grade meetings, are open only to A-rank competitors¹⁴.

Who can open an account: eligibility and exclusions

The service is open to individuals only. Corporations cannot become subscribers, and the account must be in your own name⁶. You must be at least 20 years old to use KEIRIN.JP and to buy bicycle race tickets¹.

There is a list of people who cannot become subscribers. It covers adults under guardianship or curatorship, bankrupts, anyone punished with a fine or a heavier penalty for violating the Bicycle Racing Act, people likely to commit collective or habitual violent unlawful acts, government or implementer staff connected with keirin, JKA officers and staff, keirin riders, people engaged in ticket sales under the agreement, and anyone whose daily or social life is, or may be, harmed by buying tickets⁴.

That last category is worth reading twice. If your betting is already causing problems for you or your family, the terms say you cannot hold an account. The same logic runs through the suspension rules below.

You also need two bank accounts in your own name at the designated bank, by the date the Association specifies: a voting ordinary deposit account, which holds the money you bet with, and a transfer ordinary deposit account, which is where winnings and unused funds are sent⁵. The voting account cannot be used for any other automatic transfers⁸.

Registering through the Keirin Net Bank Service

Registration happens online through the Keirin Net Bank Service. You pick your bank, fill in the membership registration form on a smartphone or PC, and if you do not already have an account at that bank, you go to the bank's account opening page first³.

If you already hold an account at a participating bank, the whole thing takes about 10 minutes, and you can use both internet voting and telephone voting straight away³. The flow runs through six screens: the terms of use, an account confirmation input screen, an account confirmation screen, the membership registration input screen, a confirmation screen, and the application completion screen¹⁶.

On the terms screen, you read the agreement and, if you agree, select "agree" and press "send"¹⁷. If you select "do not agree," you cannot apply¹⁸. Fields marked with an asterisk on the registration form are required¹⁶. Once the application is complete, you log in from the top page to use KEIRIN.JP¹⁸.

A few practical notes. If you register through Rakuten Bank, the flow moves to the bank's simple application screen to conclude the account transfer agreement before membership registration continues¹⁸. If you use Docomo SMTB Net Bank, membership registration continues after the internet direct debit agreement is completed¹⁶. If you use Mitsubishi UFJ Bank, you need an ordinary savings account with the cash card already in hand, and the flow moves to the bank's account authentication screen for the transfer agreement²⁰.

If you fail to log in a certain number of times, login becomes unavailable and you have to contact the KEIRIN official voting CTC to get back in¹. When you finish a session, select the logout button on the top page, which moves you to the logout screen, and press the logout button to complete it⁷.

Participating banks and how deposits work

Six banks support the Keirin Net Bank Service: PayPay Bank, Rakuten Bank, Docomo SMTB Net Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, MUFG Bank and Japan Post Bank³. For each one, the rule is the same: you must already hold an ordinary savings account there, or open one first⁶.

Once you are set up, you deposit money for betting into your dedicated account and buy tickets on the voting screen²¹. Transfers from your ordinary account to the Zenrinkyo account are free up to two times a day; from the third transfer each day, each one costs JPY 75⁴.

Deposits are accepted from 7:00 to 17:00. That window stretches to 21:00 on night race days, to 23:50 on midnight race days, and on previous-day sales days it runs to 23:50 and then again from 0:10 to 7:00 the next morning⁶.

One thing to know about the interface: the deposit button is not displayed for general bank members²². If you cannot see it, that is why.

Bet types and betting limits: JPY 9,990,000 a day

Keirin offers seven standard bet types, plus two bracketed-combination tickets¹²:

• 2枠複
• 2枠単
• 2車複
• 2車単
• 3連複
• 3連単
• Wide
• Dokanto!7
• Dokanto!4two

You do not need to know all of them on day one; the betting screen explains each one as you go.

The limits are generous but firm. The daily purchase limit is JPY 9,990,000 per subscriber, and you cannot buy more than that in a day⁴. The maximum for a single bet is JPY 99,900²³. You can place up to 3,000 bets a day²⁵. Applications are capped at 99 per day, and one application can include no more than 25 items with a combined total of 999 bets, or no more than 50 items with a combined total of 999 bets when voting online from a PC⁵.

Ticket face values must be a multiple of JPY 100²³. If you want a lower ceiling than the site default, you can set your own purchase limit from the login screen⁷.

Betting hours, settlement and withdrawals

Betting opens at 8:00 AM on race day and closes three minutes before each race's scheduled start. Previous-day sales run from 6:30 PM the day before until 8:00 AM the next morning¹². Night races and Midnight Keirin are included in the same schedule⁵.

Settlement works in two ways. First, on-demand settlement: during settlement hours, you can settle unused amounts, payouts and refunds without waiting for all the races to finish, and the money goes from the Zenrinkyo account back to your ordinary account²³. Second, a monthly lump-sum settlement: in principle once a month, after telephone voting closes, every user with a balance is settled in one go from the Zenrinkyo account to their ordinary account⁶.

To withdraw, you request a transfer from your voting account to your transfer account through the telephone voting system's dedicated answer service, then withdraw from the transfer account⁴. The voting account cannot be designated for any automatic transfer other than this settlement⁸.

Keep your records. Voting records are kept for 60 days⁴. If you want to object to a purchase payment, a payout or a refund, you can do so to Zenrinkyo only within 60 days from the day of the telephone vote¹².

Self-exclusion and family-requested suspension

You can suspend your own account by applying in writing on the Association's designated form⁵. The suspension is put in place promptly, but once you have suspended, you cannot apply to lift it until the end of the fiscal year following the suspension date⁸. That is a long block, so treat it as a real commitment rather than a pause button.

Family members can also act. Relatives living with the subscriber, and people specially approved by the Association, may apply in writing with the required documents to suspend the subscriber's use²⁵. After that application, the subscriber can submit an opinion within 30 days of the notice, and the suspension is lifted only if the Association finds the objection justified⁵. If it is not lifted, the subscriber cannot in principle apply to lift it until the end of the fiscal year following the suspension date⁴.

One more rule that catches people out: if you complete no purchase application for one full year, the agreement is terminated without notice²³. If you plan to step away for a long stretch, know that your account may not be there when you come back.

What the law does not cover

KEIRIN.JP is a legal, regulated service, but that does not mean everything around it is covered. Playing on offshore casino websites is illegal in Japan, and players have been prosecuted. If you are looking at betting options outside the official route, the legal online betting options page sets out what exists where, and Can I Gamble in Japan? covers the wider picture for residents and visitors.

Two practical points about the account itself. First, you must place your own bets: subscribers must apply themselves and cannot have others apply on their behalf, and tickets cannot be purchased on commission from others⁸. Second, if tickets sold by telephone cannot be combined with the amount sold to on-course attendees because of a natural disaster or another unavoidable cause, voting on that race is void under the Bicycle Racing Act⁸. That is rare, but it is why a race can be declared void after you have bet on it.

If you are comparing this with betting accounts you already hold elsewhere, using your home-country betting account while living in Asia explains where those accounts stop working, and why licensed betting apps stop working when you travel covers the app side.