How to start a bookmakers business in Japan
Gambling is enjoyed all over the world, yet there are tight restrictions in place depending on the country where you live.
For the purposes of this short post, we will be focusing on Japan, and more specifically – how you can start a bookmaker business in Japan. This can definitely be an avenue of business that can be explored in Japan, despite the fact that many forms of gambling are actually prohibited in the country. Of course, that’s exciting news assuming that this is something you are interested in.
Here’s the catch – there are just a few sports that can be wagered on in Japan, which does somewhat limit the potential flexibility of the business. But with that said, sports betting is still enjoyed by vast numbers of people in Japan, which shows that it can still be a prosperous and indeed a profitable venture. Without further ado, let’s get started with step 1 in opening a bookmaker business in this part of the world.
Step 1 – get in the game
As the first step in any business, you will need to actually register your company with the relative Japanese authorities. This is often the most exciting stage of starting any business, and once you’ve completed this step, you are officially in the game. At this stage, all you need to worry about is registering the business name correctly, as well as where your business will operate from. This isn’t as complicated as it might sound on the surface, for during the registration process you will be able to check whether your desired business name is taken. And of course, you can easily put a registered address down on paper.
Step 2 – organize your license
Here comes the tricky part. If you plan on operating a bookmaker business in Japan, you will need to negotiate with the relative authorities to obtain a gambling license. This is because Japan works a little differently from other countries in the respect that any form of legal gambling needs approval from the government first. This is true if you plan on supplying the betting markets and accepting wagers from punters for sports betting. Note that this is absolutely critical if you are to operate a gambling business here, for failure to obtain the license would mean that you are then operating illegally.
Naturally, this will not end well for your business, so do take the time to ensure that all of the paperwork is in order to avoid any problems in the future. And don’t assume that you can accept a few wagers and then obtain the licensing permission later, for it needs to be done before you take any bets at all.
Step 3 – set up your betting markets
At this point, you can officially say that you are operating a gambling business in Japan. But of course, the work is only just beginning, for you still need to implement the infrastructure to accept bets from your customers. On that note, we mentioned earlier that there are only a handful of sports in which punters can wager on in Japan. These sports include horse racing, powerboat racing, bicycle racing, and motorcycle racing. As you can see, these are all sports that operate as races between individuals/teams, as these are the sports that the government is more lenient towards right now.
Since you will be operating as a bookmaker, you need to also develop a system in which you can set odds for the relevant betting markets. This kind of software can actually be leased these days by certain providers, so this step isn’t as daunting as you might think. After putting this in place, you can officially start accepting bets.
Step 4 – adapt your offerings
To separate yourself from any competition in the market, you will need to figure out what makes your business better than the rest. More importantly, you need to figure out why potential sports punters would want to place bets with your business compared to another. For that reason, we believe that step 4 also carries critical importance, for this is how you will grow and nurture your business to make it successful. As some helpful advice, we would recommend that you try to develop an online platform such as a website or a mobile app to accept bets, as this will make your business more accessible to the wider market.
We would also recommend that you throw in a few bonuses from time to time, and ideally, you should provide odds that are in line with other bookmakers in Japan. After all, punters place bets to make money, so you should offer decent value! And now that you’ve run through all of these steps, you can proudly say that you have an operational bookmaker business in Japan for 2021!
Image:
“Hastings Horse Race” by You As A Machine is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0