The expansion of legal sports betting in Japan to include baseball and football has raised hopes within the industry. Right now, sports betting is only permitted on horse racing, motor boats, cycling and motor bikes.
Skeptics abound. But the loss of revenue among Japanese sports organizations due to Covid-19 seems to be a crucial factor behind the push.
Attendance for the central league of the Nippon Professional Baseball league fell 78 percent in 2020. Since half a team’s income comes from ticket sales and related food and beverage, such losses leave a huge impact, according to Asia Gaming Brief.
“Some early estimates put the market at a $55 billion to $65 billion per year market which in my opinion is a conservative number. I think we potentially could be looking at double of those figures,” said Kaare Hilt Ingvaldsen, Tokyo-based Asia Pacific manager at odds data provider TXOdds.
Underground markets and foreign bookmakers already provide an outlet for sports betting, something legalization would impede, he said.
“The clubs also need this, and by legalizing betting especially for soccer and baseball, the sports networks like DAZN could also attract more viewership as more people would be invested in the games. This could again lead to better television deals for the clubs which would again create higher revenue,” Ingvaldsen said.
If the slow pace of the regulatory process to approve casinos is any indicator, don’t hold your breath getting this done.
Still, it would be fantastic, Michael Maerz, deputy CEO for Asia Pacific at Sportradar said. “Not only for Japan, but it would also show other countries in Southeast Asia that regulation is the way forward if it’s done properly.”
To Maerz, if it’s going to be a reality, it will happen faster than anyone thinks.
“The question will be whether it’s done right. For example, in some global jurisdictions taxation levels have been based on turnover rather than gross gambling revenue and that makes it almost prohibitive for an operator to run a successful business.”
Martin Purbrick, chairman of the Council on Anti-Illegal Betting & Related Financial Crime for the Asian Racing Federation, mentions the Hong Kong Jockey Club and the China Sports Lottery mash up to offer betting on football as a template.
“That’s an injection of international talent with a very experienced operator into what is a very closed and difficult market to enter so there’s a little bit of a model there for other jurisdictions such as Japan.”
While baseball and soccer expect to be the largest sports to wager on, esports could become a major player.
