TV Production Firms Rush In as Competition Heats Up for Public Gambling Work

Publicly Run Gambling Is a Lucrative Business

The YouTube broadcasts of Betimo, a bicycle racing ticket sales portal site, began on November 18.

“Betimo is operated by a consolidated subsidiary of East Group Holdings, a long-established production company known for producing popular programs such as Miracle Experience! Unbelievable and Netapare (both on the Fuji TV network). When it comes to bicycle racing businesses, IT companies like MIXI have mainly been involved, so the entry of a video production company came as a surprise. I watched the streams, and the day-before prediction show for graded races, Asu Kachi!, features announcer Yuki Matsumaru (44), whose husband is an active professional keirin cyclist, as the host, and Yasumasa Hirahara (43), a former top rider who retired suddenly, as the commentator. Leveraging know-how cultivated in television, the program makes full use of visuals and is easy for beginners to understand,” said a sports newspaper reporter.

Directors at production companies are also paying close attention to East’s entry into the keirin business.

“With the slump in television, production budgets are only going down. In fiscal 2024, there were 58 bankruptcies among production companies—1.5 times the previous year. To survive, more companies are finding opportunities in producing corporate YouTube and TikTok content. Among these, publicly run gambling—whose sales continue to grow year by year as online purchasing has become established—is a particularly lucrative line of work. If successful, Betimo could post sales on an entirely different scale.”

Currently, the industry’s No. 1 market share is held by WINTICKET, operated by a consolidated subsidiary of CyberAgent.

“WINTICKET was also a latecomer as a service, but by broadcasting midnight race coverage daily on ABEMA featuring popular comedians, and by releasing a user-friendly app that leverages know-how from popular games, it rose to the top of the industry within four years of launching in 2019. Its net profit in 2023 was 4 billion yen, making it a major pillar of CyberAgent’s earnings. Betimo’s app is said to involve Aiming, a game developer known for Dragon Quest Tact, in its operation, so it looks set to become a strong rival to WINTICKET,” said an advertising agency insider.

Entertainment agencies are also steadily entering the publicly run gambling business.

“Yoshimoto Kogyo created a department within its sales division specializing in publicly run gambling at an early stage. SHU Promotion, which represents Shinji Uchiyama (44), who has effectively become a boat race talent, even built its own studio and is putting serious effort into streaming operations,” said a racetrack official.

There is also a growing number of idols openly promoting their love of publicly run gambling.

“=LOVE, produced by Rino Sashihara (33), established the ‘Equal Love Boat Race Club’ with Hitomi Takamatsu (24), a boat race enthusiast, as its leader. They regularly post race videos on YouTube. Takamatsu has been appointed the ‘Super Excitement Ambassador’ for Boat Race Hamanako, successfully turning it into paid work. With terrestrial TV appearance fees continuing to decline, the number of production companies and talents entering publicly run gambling will only increase going forward,” said the aforementioned production company director.

The battle to seize a share of this lucrative pie in the fight for survival is intensifying.