Gambling in Japan is generally banned by the Criminal Code chapter 23, however there are several exceptions, including betting on horse racing and certain motor sports.

Public sports, lottery, and toto (football pools) are held under special laws in order to increase the income of national and local governments, as well as to offer a form of entertainment for many people.

Kōei kyōgi (公営競技, public sports) are public races that people in Japan can gamble on legally. There are four different types of kōei kyōgi: Keiba (horse racing), Keirin (bicycle racing), Kyōtei (motorboat racing), and Auto Race (motorcycle racing). They are allowed by special laws and are regulated by local governments or governmental corporations.

The prize pool for the gamblers of these races are about 75-80% of total sales. Betting tickets are available at countless circuits and ticket booths within many cities, namely Tokyo, Osaka, Yokohama, and Nagoya.

Takarakuji (宝くじ), i.e., lotteries, are held by prefectures or large cities on a regular basis all throughout the calendar year.

In Japan may refer to:

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Japan ⁱ/dʒəˈpæn/ (Japanese: 日本 Nihon or Nippon; formally 日本国  Nippon-koku or Nihon-koku, literally the State of Japan) is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south. The characters that make up Japan's name mean "sun-origin", which is why Japan is sometimes referred to as the "Land of the Rising Sun".

Japan is an archipelago of 6,852 islands. The four largest islands are Honshū, Hokkaidō, Kyūshū and Shikoku, together accounting for ninety-seven percent of Japan's land area. Japan has the world's tenth-largest population, with over 127 million people. The Greater Tokyo Area, which includes the de facto capital city of Tokyo and several surrounding prefectures, is the largest metropolitan area in the world, with over 30 million residents.

Archaeological research indicates that people lived in Japan as early as the Upper Paleolithic period. The first written mention of Japan is in Chinese history texts from the 1st century AD. Influence from other nations followed by long periods of isolation has characterized Japan's history. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, victory in the First Sino-Japanese War, the Russo-Japanese War and World War I allowed Japan to expand its empire during a period of increasing militarism. The Second Sino-Japanese War of 1937 expanded into part of World War II in 1941, which came to an end in 1945 following the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Since adopting its revised constitution in 1947, Japan has maintained a unitary constitutional monarchy with an emperor and an elected parliament called the Diet.