Horse racing enthusiasts in Japan don’t go to the track as much as they once did, but they’re gambling more online.
According to the Japan Times, online wagers on horse racing have reached an all-time high, driven in part by the Covid-19 pandemic but also by the ease of iGaming. Since the 1990s, the National Association of Racing (NAR)
been in decline with lower revenues that caused tracks to fall into disrepair.
“In recent years, however, digitization has begun to turn things around,” the Times reported. “When punters no longer had to be physically present at the track and could bet from the comfort of their own homes, from anywhere around the nation, sales began to make a comeback. This has been aided by improvements in the online infrastructure as well.”
In fiscal 2020, NAR reported that the proceeds from local races increased 30.1 percent from the previous fiscal year to JPY912.29 billion (US$8.4 billion), harkening back to the glory days of racing in the 1990s.
The profits benefit local governments, which may be encourages to reinvest in aging tracks instead of writing off the sport altogether.
