Chapter 2: Market overviews
Top 10 Sports betting sites offering Chinese language, December 2015
Rank
Sportsbooks
Software
Jurisdiction
1
Bet365 Sportsbook &
Racebook
Proprietary
Gibraltar, Malta,
United Kingdom
2
William Hill Sportsbook &
Racebook
1X2gaming, OpenBet, Sporting
Solutions
Gibraltar, United
Kingdom
3
Ladbrokes Sportsbook &
Racebook
1X2gaming, Inspired Gaming,
Playtech, VSoftCo
Gibraltar, United
Kingdom
4
Bet365 Spain Sportsbook
& Racebook
Proprietary
Spain
5
Hong Kong Jockey Club
Bettorlogic
Hong Kong
6
BetCRIS
DGS
Costa Rica, Malta
7
Pinnacle Sports
Bettorlogic, GGL, MultiSlot,
Proprietary
Curaçao, Malta
8
Planet Win 365
1X2gaming, ATIG, B3W Live,
Betsoft, Espresso Games,
GameART, Inspired Gaming,
NetEnt, Playson, Portomaso
Gaming, Quickspin, ViG, XPG
Austria
9
500.com
Sportradar
China
10
Marathon Bet
1X2gaming, Betsoft, Evolution
Gaming, iSoftBet, Microgaming,
Proprietary
Curaçao
Primary language
Spanish
Source: Online Casino City
Japan
Country
Most popular sports
Japan
Baseball, sumo, football
Japan made history by being the first Asian country to be awarded hosting rights for an Rugby Union
World Cup. Hosting the tournament in 2019 is expected to increase the popularity of the sport in the
country. The most popular sports in the country in the meantime are baseball, sumo and football.
The demand for gaming in Japan is staggering. Many of the best-known casino games players in the
world are Japanese, and the general population participates regularly in gaming activities. If casinos
are one day legalised, the Japanese market could potentially become the largest in the world, bringing
about a major shift in Asian gaming and stimulating the sector.
Wagering on racing is one of the few legal forms of gaming in Japan – all other sports bets as well
as casino gaming, are banned. Race betting became legal in the early 1950s however. Many types
of races can be bet on, including bicycle, horse, boat, and motorcycle racing. Horseracing is the
most popular, especially in Japan’s larger cities, where race gambling is more popular than in the
countryside. Race wagers can be placed online, and often people can even watch the races on the
internet. Toto is also made available online.
Betting on horse racing under the Japan Racing Association and a national lottery, Tarakuji, both
garner 7 trillion yen a year.
Betting on professional J-League football games is also possible in Japan as part of the national lottery
system known as Toto. Tickets are purchased only at special Toto booths. These booths are scarce and
can be hard to find, often turning up in electronic stores or used car lots. Toto is not quite like a fixed-
72 Digital Sports Betting