The Finals Moved Huge Money — Inside High School Baseball Betting

A side business for crime syndicates—one where they can never lose

The 107th National High School Baseball Championship ended its hotly contested run on August 23, when Okinawa Shogaku (Okinawa) defeated Nihon University Third High School (West Tokyo) to claim their first title. However, this year’s tournament also drew many questions about the wholesomeness of the sport — for example, the assault case involving Koryo (Hiroshima) — and the way the tournament is run came under scrutiny.

Violence has no place in high school baseball. Nor should various adult interests, such as money, be allowed to intervene. Yet the reality is that underground high school–baseball gambling rings are thriving. In professional baseball, betting scandals in 2015–16 — which implicated then–Yomiuri Giants players Masaki Kasahara, Tatsuya Matsumoto, Satoshi Fukuda and others — caused a huge stir. Baseball gambling takes place not only in pro games but also in high school baseball, and it’s said to be a feverish, high-stakes scene filled with the same intensity as summer’s heat.

We spoke to a man identified as “I,” who is entrusted by the bookies to collect stakes. He said the operation runs as a money-making scheme for a yakuza organization and is operated with a system designed so it never loses.

“Say a match between Team A and Team B draws ¥1,000,000 on A and ¥200,000 on B. The gap in amounts often reflects the perceived strength of the teams. The bookie takes a 10 percent commission from the payouts, so they’re guaranteed a profit, but they also manipulate the odds.

In that example the raw ratio is 1:5, but they might present it as 1:3 — by understating the payout multiplier relative to the collected stakes, they generate profit. Because baseball gambling is illegal in the first place, even blatant odds manipulation draws no complaints.”

The game between Kyoto Kokusai and Kendai Takasaki was really exciting

One of the biggest challenges in running baseball gambling operations is when not enough money comes in. Unlike legal public gambling such as horse racing or boat racing, these underground books deliberately set a high minimum bet to avoid trouble. According to one organizer, that’s because people who wager only small amounts are more likely to cause problems, such as tipping off the police.

“We take bets in ¥50,000 units by phone. Some books set the minimum at ¥100,000, so ours isn’t that high compared to others. But people who bet small amounts often risk their last bit of money and then make excuses like, ‘It’s illegal, so I don’t have to pay.’ That creates a lot of hassle for collection and payouts.”

The odds are adjusted depending on how much money is collected from customers, but in games featuring powerhouse schools, most people naturally bet on the stronger team. To make lopsided games appear less one-sided, organizers sometimes adjust odds close to even, even when the matchup is clearly unbalanced.

Initial odds are set by the bookie based on pre-tournament reputations of the schools, and wagers are accepted up until one hour before a game starts. “The Kyoto Kokusai vs. Kendai Takasaki match really fired people up,” the source said, noting that a matchup between title contenders drew heavy betting.

“If too much money piles onto a strong team, it ruins the betting. So we adjust payouts based on point spreads — for example, until there’s a three-run lead, odds stay close to 1. Even if the favorite wins by three, the commission still means bettors lose money. On the other hand, if there’s an upset and the underdog wins by a wide margin, payouts are high. Some people deliberately keep betting on weaker teams for that reason.”

Fluctuating odds based on point spreads makes the betting more thrilling, and customers reportedly welcome it. Depending on the amount wagered, odds can rise in increments of 0.2 once the margin exceeds three runs.

Collection Follows Traditional Yakuza Methods

All high school baseball gambling is conducted in cash, but handling payments every time would be cumbersome. For this reason, collections and payouts are carried out only once a week, on Mondays. As long as participants can gather the money by collection day, they can theoretically gamble even with no cash on hand. In the past, some have reportedly gone from zero to ¥2.5 million in a single week. While this system may seem precarious, I explained that financial troubles occur only about once every three years.

“This is primarily a pastime for people who have money, so nobody disappears over a few hundred thousand yen. One past case involved an employee who accumulated a ¥600,000 debt through a referral from a company president. Unable to borrow from friends, the president covered it. Since it involves the introducer’s reputation and occurs in the underworld, it was quietly concealed.”

I, responsible for collections, experienced someone skipping payment once. The bookie responded with traditional, aggressive yakuza-style pressure:

“When someone skips out, the bookie takes action. I’ve seen them call the person’s company, saying, ‘Your employee A hasn’t paid. The company needs to cover it,’ or go to their home demanding repayment. It’s just like old-school yakuza debt collection. Usually, three days of that is enough to make them pay.”

Even today, since the bookies are part of yakuza organizations, collection methods haven’t changed. Street-level thugs hired by the yakuza are often outsourced to carry out these collections.

In the final match where Okinawa Shogaku secured the championship, a significant amount of money changed hands. I said, “About ¥4 million was wagered, so next week will be busy with distribution and collections,” before leaving.

Illegal gambling around high school baseball is not just theoretical: in June 2024, a yakuza member in Hiroshima was arrested for having customers predict the winning school and place cash bets. What happens if someone is caught? Attorney Taiga Deguchi of Atom Law Office explains:

“The person running the gambling operation can be charged with the crime of opening a gambling house for profit, punishable by imprisonment of 3 months to 5 years. Bettors can face up to ¥500,000 in fines under general gambling laws, or up to 3 years imprisonment for habitual gambling. Operators are considered more culpable, so the penalties are heavier.

Additionally, if a yakuza runs the gambling operation, penalties can be even more severe. Bettors who knowingly gamble with yakuza to cut off their funding may also face strict punishment.”

The intense competition among high school baseball players must not be overshadowed by adults’ illegal, profit-driven gambling.