online lottery ticket

Starting October 2018, lottery tickets sold in stores in Japan will also be available online.

Increasing Lottery Revenue

Stores will not be the only place in Japan where people will be able to find lottery tickets. The Japanese will soon be able to buy them online beginning at the end of this year. According to calvinayre.com, the change comes as Japan attempts to increase revenue within its lottery industry. The country’s ministry officials feel the change will be very promising, They want to make lottery tickets more accessible for residents of all ages. Statistics currently show the most popular consumers of the tickets are Japanese citizens ages 50 and up — they make 60 percent of the lottery ticket purchases. Officials have found the reason the younger generation does not buy as many is because of the limited access to lottery machines.

Most lottery machines are located close to Japan’s train stations. These areas are where 93 percent of tickets are purchased. Therefore, ticket sales plummeted. With the tickets now being available online, this will provide access to a broader range of consumers.

Lucrative Results

The changes seem to be very promising. According to Seiko Noda, minister of Internal Affairs and Communications, there is the potential to bring in 500,000 new sales within six months This puts the change in an even more optimistic light. It’s been a very long time since Japan has seen a spike in revenue from lottery ticket sales. In 2016, there was a  revenue of ¥845 billion (about $8 billion) during the fiscal year, which is quite impressive. However, it’s safe to say Japan’s best year was in 2005 when the country saw lottery ticket sales reach an amount of ¥1.1 trillion ($13 billion).

Other Changes in Japan’s Gaming Industry

It was not long ago that Japan decided to lift the ban on casinos within the country. According to Japantimes.co.jp, the idea was revisited in 2002 when a proposal for a casino was considered. Various business groups wanted to build the casino in Osaka. However, it was not until 2013 that things started to change for Japan. It was then that the country decided to begin its journey into the casino industry. A decision was finally made the same year, which ultimately led to the opening of the country’s first casino. The city of Izumisano decided in favor of opening a gambling establishment. Even more support came from a survey whose data revealed that 68 percent of locals were in favor of removing the ban.

Fast forward to 2017. Various cities were in favor of developing the first casino. This caused quite a competitive stir among the regions within the country. Both the Wakayama and Osaka regions aim to host the first casino-resort. However, many factors come into play on both sides that make it even harder for a decision to be made on which city will have the honor of being the first one to have a casino. For instance, Wakayama would be ideal for the casino. It is near Tokyo’s Kansai International Airport. The casino-resort would be in Wakayama Marina City, which is only a 45-minute drive, and would also just be a 70-minute trip by car from Osaka’s metro area. Because of to this, Wakayama feels it has a greater chance of bringing in many patrons quickly. Kensai serves an estimated 6 million international tourists a year. If chosen, development of the casino would be started right away.

As for Osaka, the casino would be constructed within the Yumeshima region. Many officials support this as the location, and ideas have already been discussed of developing various attractions, such as convention centers, shopping facilities, and hotels, as well as the casino-resort.

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Thomas McCoy was born in Bethesda, Maryland and studied finance at the Kogod School of Business at American University in Washington D.C. before heading to New York and a job as a forex trader on Wall Street. Successful enough to launch his own, online forex trading platform, Thomas has long had a keen interest in the places where the worlds of finance and technology meet. As a prolific blogger, Thomas considers himself an expert on cryptocurrencies, casino asset restructuring, and emerging technologies set to change the way people do business.