Proto Betting in South Korea

What Proto is and who runs it

Proto is a fixed-odds betting game run by Sports Toto, the state-backed operator that sells sports promotion voting tickets under the National Sports Promotion Act. Unlike the pari-mutuel pools used for horse racing in South Korea, where the payout depends on how other people bet, Proto shows you the odds before you buy and pays those odds if your prediction is right¹.

The name covers two products. The win-loss type (승부식, seungbusik) lets you pick matches from a list of domestic and foreign fixtures and predict the result of each one. The record type (기록식, giroksik) asks you to predict a specific element of a single game, such as the final score or the first scorer¹.

Proto sits alongside the match-specific pools like Soccer Toto, Basketball Toto and Baseball Toto, but it works differently. Those games pool everyone's money and divide it among winners. Proto is a fixed-odds game: the operator sets each match's odds in advance based on team records, head-to-head history, injuries, recent form, media coverage and popularity, and your ticket pays whatever those odds said when you bought it¹.

Because the odds are fixed, there is no rollover. If nobody wins in a round, the refund rate for that round is simply 0%, and nothing carries over to the next one¹.

Win-loss type (승부식): bet types and how they work

The win-loss type is the main Proto product. You select either one match or a combination of 2 to 10 matches, then predict the win, draw or loss result of each, sometimes adjusted by a base value such as a handicap or an under/over line¹.

Within a single match, the bet types you can choose from include⁴:

• Home win, draw or loss (the general 승무패 type)
• Margin results, such as win by 2 or more goals, win by 1 goal or fewer including a draw, or lose by 2 or more
• Handicap results, where a base value is applied to one side
• Under/over against a given baseline for total scoring
• Odd or even total score, where 0 counts as even
• Two-way results: win-or-draw, draw-or-loss, win-or-loss
• Specific in-match situations, such as which team scores first or whether a named player scores

The settlement window depends on the sport. For soccer, only what happens from kickoff to the end of the second half counts; extra time and penalty shootouts are excluded. For basketball, everything from the start to the final end counts, including overtime. For volleyball, it is the start to the final end of the match³.

One restriction matters when you build a ticket: you cannot combine the general win-draw-loss, handicap and under/over types on the same match. If you want to bet a handicap and an under/over on the same game, they must go on separate tickets³.

Record-style tickets (기록식): what you can predict

The record type is a different animal. Instead of picking several matches, you select one game and predict a specific element of it. The game types vary widely and include the winning team or player of a tournament, the finalist, the score, the goalscorer, the final score margin, and the number of home runs¹.

In official terms, record-style tickets cover predictions such as the match score, the score difference, the first scorer, total points, and the tournament-winning team or player⁵. On your ticket you must mark the match number, the result you are predicting and your individual bet amount for each selection⁶.

Record-style tickets run on the same daily sales hours as the win-loss type. Since a reorganization that took effect on April 21, 2026, both products run three rounds per week; previously the win-loss type ran three rounds and the record type only two⁷.

First-half products: soccer and baseball

Proto has added first-half products that settle on only part of a match, and these have become a regular part of the lineup.

The baseball first-half product launched on March 21, 2025, from round 35 of the Proto win-loss type. It asks you to predict the result of a KBO League game through the 5th inning. At launch it covered only the first-half win-draw-loss type for KBO games, with plans to expand gradually, and the types used may change based on sales share and the annual refund rate⁸. From round 88, on sale from July 28, 2025, first-half handicap and first-half under/over types were added, with one game selected per day at first⁹. From round 109, on sale from September 15, 2025, the first-half products (win-draw-loss, handicap and under/over) were extended to all weekday games, meaning every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday KBO fixture¹⁰.

The soccer first-half product launched on April 21, 2026, from round 46. At launch it targeted K League 1 and UEFA Champions League matches, and the types offered per match may change over time. It is not a separate round: first-half matches are added to the existing win-loss round structure¹¹. The soccer first-half types are¹¹:

• First-half win-draw-loss: predict the result at the end of the first half (3 options)
• First-half under/over: predict whether both teams' combined first-half goals go under or over the line (2 options)
• First-half handicap: predict win, draw or loss based on the handicap applied to the first half (3 options)

The settlement windows are short and clear. A soccer first-half ticket covers kickoff to the end of the first half. A baseball first-half ticket covers the start of the game to the end of the 5th inning¹.

Minimum bets, combinations and how odds are calculated

The unit stake depends on how you buy. A single-match ticket costs KRW 1,000 per unit. If you combine 2 to 10 matches on one ticket, the unit drops to KRW 100³. The general terms for sports promotion voting tickets set the unit betting amount at KRW 1,000 or less⁵.

Odds are shown to two decimal places for a single-match purchase. For a combination, the odds are the product of the selected matches' odds, truncated at the third decimal place and then rounded up at the second decimal place³.

Odds can change while a round is on sale. The operator adjusts them when factors affecting the match change and to manage the annual average refund rate, so two people betting the same match can hold different odds depending on when they bought. If the odds change after your purchase, your ticket is settled at the odds that applied when you bought it¹.

Sales can also be blocked entirely on some matches or combinations. When votes concentrate too heavily on one outcome, Proto stops selling that selection to keep the annual refund rate within its required band of 50 to 70%¹.

Betting windows: when you can buy and when sales close

Daily sales hours for sports promotion voting tickets are 8 AM to 11 PM, both online and offline¹. Within that window, each match closes at its own start time. Matches held after 11 PM and before 8 AM the next day, for example late-night MLB games, close in a single batch at 11 PM because that is when the daily sales window ends¹.

Rounds are organized by week. The win-loss type runs three rounds per week: an early-week round sold Monday to Tuesday that includes Wednesday matches, a midweek round sold Wednesday to Thursday that includes Friday matches, and a weekend round sold Friday to Sunday that includes the following Monday's matches⁷. Since the April 2026 reorganization, you can also buy tickets for matches held after the round's closing date, and match numbers have expanded from 3 digits to 4⁷.

For the record type, sales for a given round open 1 to 3 days before the deadline and close at the start time of the first target game².

Settlement rules: extra innings, suspended games and voids

Settlement rules are mostly about baseball, because baseball has the most ways to end oddly.

For full-game baseball tickets, the result that counts is everything from the game's start to its final end, including extra innings and, where it applies, the tiebreaker. If the organizing body declares a shortened game a regulation game, for example a rain-shortened game that counts officially, bets are settled normally on that result. A declared suspended game, however, is treated as void. For doubleheaders, the first game is the target game¹⁴.

For first-half baseball tickets, the same principles apply with a twist. If a suspended game is declared, for example in the top of the 7th inning due to rain, the first-half ticket pays 1.0x regardless of the score through the 5th inning. But if a rain cold game is declared after the top of the 5th has been completed and the game counts as official, the first-half ticket settles normally on that result⁸. First-half tickets are settled in one batch after the target game has fully ended, the same as regular baseball products⁸.

For soccer, the counting window is kickoff to the end of the second half, excluding extra time and penalty shootouts, and first-half soccer tickets settle at the end of the first half¹.

A few general rules cover odd finishes:

• If a void cause stated in the sports promotion voting ticket terms occurs, the match is voided and odds of 1.0 apply to all its types, even after the applicable time has passed¹.
• If a baseball or basketball general win/loss type ends in a draw, odds of 1.0 apply to all selections³.
• If a match is rescheduled, it stays valid if the new date falls on or before the last target match date of the issuing round in Korean time; if it moves to the next day or later, it is void. For baseball, the same test applies in local time⁶.
• If a target game ends abnormally and no final result is confirmed on the day, the match is void⁸.

Prize cap, refund rate and tax on winnings

The maximum payout on a single Proto ticket is KRW 100,000,000, and the cap applies per individual voting ticket, not to the sum across several tickets¹.

Proto's annual refund rate must stay between 50 and 70%, which means a set share of sales is returned to customers over the year. Per-round refund rates are not published, because the operator treats them as business know-how, but annual sales and refund figures are released at the start of each year for the previous year¹.

Tax on winnings follows the standard rules for other income in South Korea. The practical thresholds are¹:

When tax applies, the operator withholds 20% other income tax plus a resident tax of 10% of that tax, before paying you the refund¹⁵. For lottery-style prizes the combined withholding rate is 22%, which is 20% income tax plus 2% resident tax¹⁶. The legal basis is the Income Tax Act, which classifies refunds from sports promotion voting tickets as other income¹⁷. You can read more about the wider picture on our page on tax on gambling winnings in South Korea.

Where and how to buy: Betman, purchase hours and limits

There are two ways to buy. The first is a Toto retail outlet: find a nearby shop, check the posted sales schedule, choose the game you want, and mark your ticket at the counter¹⁸. The second is Betman (www.betman.co.kr), the official internet sales site for Sports Toto games¹⁹. Only tickets bought at outlet ticket machines or through the Betman site are valid⁴.

Online, sales run the same 8 AM to 11 PM hours as offline¹². Two limits apply to everyone: you can spend at most KRW 100,000 per person per round, and you can buy in up to 6 rounds per day on Betman¹². The KRW 100,000 per-round limit applies to offline purchases as well as online ones²⁰, and it matches the general purchase cap of KRW 100,000 that applies across legal gambling businesses in South Korea other than Kangwon Land²¹.

Winnings on tickets bought through Betman are paid to the deposit account or refund bankbook you choose as a member, and refunds go automatically to your deposit account. Amounts paid with Betmoney are refunded as Betmoney³.

If you disagree with a round's official results, you must file an objection with Korea Sports Leisure Co., Ltd. within 30 days of the announcement date, or the right lapses⁵. Results are usually announced on the day the match ends¹.