You Can't Win if You Don't Play

Posted by Mike Cash (Kiryu, Japan) on 3 December 2007 in Lifestyle & Culture and Portfolio.

And you stand precious little chance of winning even if you do. This man purchasing lottery tickets for the New Year Jumbo drawing really doesn't mind, though.

You can still find places and people on the internet that will tell you Japan doesn't have gambling. And that is true.

If you don't count:

Lottery
Horse racing
Bicycle racing
Motorcycle racing
Boat racing
Pachinko

They're all legal, except for pachinko, which operates in a shadowy zone. Technically it is illegal to play for money, but that is the single most overlooked legal technicality in the world so it is safe to go ahead and list it with all the other forms of gambling.

VFXY Photos