The Dark Side of “Online Sports Betting” Rampant in Japan… We Go Head-to-Head with an Operator Who Raked in “1.3 Billion Yen” During the North and Central American World Cup!

Points earned are cashed out through a separate operator… The business is expanding by attracting both young people and the elderly.

The reporter has a flyer in hand. At first glance, it looks like just an advertisement for a smartphone game—but when you scan the QR code in the center, it takes you to a certain website.Clicking the “Sports” tab displays a long list of MLB and J.League matches, with odds listed for their outcomes. This flyer is designed to direct users to an online sports betting site.

Online sports betting was first legalized in the United Kingdom in 2005. Major European countries legalized it in the 2010s, while the United States followed suit in 2018.Overseas, it is known as “sports betting,” and the range of sports covered is wide, including baseball, tennis, and golf. However, soccer is said to account for half of the market, and during the recent North and Central American World Cup, the amount of money wagered was reportedly among the highest on record.

“The North and Central American World Cup expanded to 48 participating nations, and the number of matches also increased. The tournament reached its largest scale ever.Sports betting sites around the world were also booming, and it is estimated that the total amount wagered over the 39-day tournament period exceeded 9.6 trillion yen. This is 1.7 times the amount from the previous tournament,” said a reporter from the business section of a national newspaper.

The third photo is a screenshot of a special page that appeared on the aforementioned website during the North and Central American World Cup. Matches are listed in a row, with odds assigned to each team’s win or loss. At the top, the text “You can bet on World Cup match results” is visible. In Japan, too, the World Cup was a subject of betting.

In Japan, gambling is prohibited in principle, and online sports betting is no exception. However, the reality is that crackdowns have been slow to gain traction. In addition to the high level of secrecy—since everything can be done with just a single smartphone—enforcement is further complicated by the “three-party system,” in which the operator and the payment processor are separate entities.

“The operator issues points that can only be used within the site, and users purchase them to gamble. On its own, this is no different from a legal amusement casino. However, in online sports betting, these points can generally be converted into cash or cryptocurrency through specific payment processors.

By circulating money among three parties—with a third party acting as an intermediary—rather than having direct transactions between the operator and the customer, they are attempting to slip through the cracks of the law,” explains a journalist well-versed in online gambling.

Ichiro Tanioka, President of Osaka University of Commerce and a specialist in casino research, explains.

“The ‘three-store system’—in which dedicated points are issued and then exchanged by users for cash or other items at a separate location—clearly violates the gambling offenses outlined in Articles 185 and 186 of the Penal Code and is therefore illegal.

Even if a third party other than the user and the establishment is involved to create a detour in the path to cashing out, the issued points are deemed to go beyond the definition of ‘items intended for temporary entertainment’ as defined in the gambling offenses. The establishment could be charged with habitual gambling, while users could face charges of simple gambling.”

A building housing an “in-kaji” establishment. While it looks like an ordinary mixed-use building from the outside, illegal gambling activities, such as sports betting, take place inside.

According to sports betting operator “X,” “the number of customers has tripled.”

FRIDAY has successfully made contact with sports betting operator “X,” the company that produced the flyer mentioned at the beginning of this article. “X” is based in Shinjuku, Tokyo, and has about 5,000 users per month; it is considered a mid-sized player in the industry.

“We launched around the time of the last World Cup. Until then, we’d focused mainly on casino games, but for the World Cup, we spent several million yen to create a dedicated betting page. Our customer base has roughly tripled. In terms of revenue, I’d say we made about 1.3 billion yen in a single month.”

Access to “X’s” site is reportedly only possible by scanning the QR code printed on the aforementioned flyer. While they usually place flyers in closed locations, such as illegal online casino establishments, they actively recruited users during the World Cup.

“We sent a sales team to a sports bar run by an acquaintance to hand out flyers and invite people who looked interested. Until now, our customer base had mainly consisted of office workers in their 30s and 40s, but we’ve seen a significant increase in young people in their 20s and customers in their 60s. Older people have money, so they bet larger amounts. Capturing that demographic was a huge win.”

Are you aware that you’re exploiting customers through illegal activities? When I cut straight to the heart of the matter, I received a disingenuous response.

“I don’t intend to take advantage of them. I consider them ‘customers’ through and through. Besides, we’re not the only ones doing this.”

There was absolutely no sense of guilt about engaging in criminal activity.

According to the journalist mentioned earlier, “Since the World Cup, more than 100 online sports betting sites have been confirmed in Japan.” The underworld is gradually eroding Japan.

From the September 11–18, 2026, combined issue of *FRIDAY*