I have been writing about the current situation of the gaming market in Southeast Asia in recent short articles, although I have never officially written about the situation of the Japanese gaming market. But the good news about Japan’s gambling industry is that Japan currently has no regulations prohibiting iGaming, which also puts Japanese iGaming in a gray area; the size of Japan’s iGaming market has reached US$7.2 billion in 2022. For Japan The issue of legalizing sports betting is still under discussion in Japan, but with the rapid development of the global sports market, whether it is to increase the income of professional sports or to protect the image and interests of Japanese sports clubs and athletes, Japan's economic industry The provincial METI has started relevant preparatory work. At the same time, the Japan Sports Agency has also established the Sports Future Development Council. The international community is also paying attention to the policy of Japan's integrated resorts. In essence, this is in Japan Local offline casinos are legalized and entering the Japanese market. Let’s first analyze the Japanese economic situation and the current situation of the Internet.

Japan's per capita income

Japan's GDP is the third in the world. Japan is an island country, so it is destined to develop maritime trade. The total population in 2021 is 125.7 million. It is basically similar to Guangdong Province, which has a population of 126 million. Japan's total GDP in 2021 is US$4.94 trillion. In the GDP ranking of countries around the world, Japan's total GDP is second only to the United States and China, and much higher than Germany, the United Kingdom, France and other countries. Generally speaking, Japan's GDP is basically equivalent to the total GDP of Jiangsu, Shandong, and Guangdong provinces. Japan’s per capita income is US$44,570, and South Korea is slightly higher than Japan.

Japan’s per capita income in 2021

Japanese population ratio

92.0% of Japan's population lives in cities, while 8.0% of the population lives in rural areas. It can be said that Japan has basically completed urbanization. But the median age of the Japanese population is 49.2 years old.
3.6% of the population is 0-4 years old
6.8% of the population is between 5 and 12 years old
4.5% of the population is aged 13-17
6.5% of the population is 18-24 years old
10% of the population is aged 25-34
12.3% of the population is 35-44 years old
15% of the population is 45-54 years old
12.4% of the population is aged 55-64
28.9% of the population is aged 65 and above
The population with spending power is between 24 and 64 years old, accounting for 56.2% of the total population. Japan's official horse racing online membership exceeds 5 million. That is to say, 0.7% or more of people in Japan play online horse racing betting.

The state of the Internet in Japan

By the beginning of 2022, Japan's Internet penetration rate reached 94% of the total population, and Internet users increased by 844,000 (+0.7%) between 2021 and 2022.
Mobile Internet connection speed via cellular network is 40.889Mbps
Fixed internet connection speed 93.26Mbps.
From January to December 2022, the median mobile Internet speed in Japan increased by 11.63Mbps (+39.7%). It can be said that Japan is also vigorously developing the connection speed and penetration rate of the Internet every year.

There are 102 million social media users in Japan. Equivalent to 81.1% of the total population. 8.2 million additional users between 2021 and 2022
Japan’s LINE has 89 million users, equivalent to 70.7% of the total population. It can be said that LINE in Japan is like WeChat in China. This should also be one of the main promotional breakthroughs for gaming companies to enter the Japanese gaming market.

FB has 15.55 million users in Japan, covering 12.4% of Japan’s total population.
YOUTUBE has 102 million users in Japan. Reaching 86.2% of Japan’s Internet user base.
IG has 46.1 million users in Japan, covering 39% of Japan’s Internet user base
TIKTOK has 15.19 million users in Japan, covering 14.2% of the Japanese Internet user base.
Twitter has 58.95 million users in Japan, covering 49.8% of Japan’s Internet user base

Summary: In Japan, LINE, YouTube, IG, and Twitter can be said to be the top traffic portals of Japanese social media. The number of users of other FBMessenger and LINKEDIN in Japan is not too high. Messenger has 5.85 million users and LINKEDIN has 3 million members. However, it should be noted that LINKEDIN is related to the industry. LINKEDIN members basically have spending power. member.

According to data from the GSMA Mobile Think Tank, the number of cellular mobile connections in Japan at the beginning of 2022 was 202.1 million. From 2021 to 2022, the number of mobile connections in Japan has increased by 5.3 million, and more and more Japanese people rely more on the Internet in their lives. (Note: Many people use the Internet for different purposes. It is possible that one person has two mobile phones. Separating the mobile phones for work and life will not create two Internet connections)

Current status of Japan’s gaming industry

Oversight of gambling entities in Japan is still in its infancy, and the newly formed Japan Casino Regulatory Commission is also preparing for the opening of its first casino. In 2021, the total betting volume of the Japan Horse Racing Association is 3 trillion yen (25.3 billion U.S. dollars), which is the first time since 2003 that it has exceeded 3 trillion. Although betting shops have been closed intermittently during the epidemic. Revenue did not decrease as the Japan Racing Association (JRA) shifted users to iGaming. JRA membership increased by 590,000 in 2020 alone. The number of registered members has reached 5 million. It can be said that these 5 million members are loyal fans of horse racing. Of course, other sports competitions such as motorboating, national lottery, motorcycle racing, etc. have all moved to iGaming. It can be said that Japan's sports betting is very popular in the first place. The entire Japanese population is only 125.7 million, and there are only 5 million members in horse racing betting, which is equivalent to 0.3% of Japan's people who know how to bet on horse racing. Although sports are a popular gambling game in Japan, there is another gambling game in Japan that basically everyone is still very loyal to, and that is pachinko and slot machines. Pachinko has more employees than the top 10 automakers, and pachinko and slot machines account for nearly half of Japan's leisure activities. Although the number of pachinko parlors has declined from 2019 to 2020, the declines have been in small pachinko parlors. Social factors and epidemic factors have also led to the closure of offline pinball shops. In 2019, Japan's gaming revenue reached US$262 billion. During the same period, the US gaming industry's revenue was US$40 billion, and Macau's revenue was US$29 billion. It may be difficult for you to imagine that Japanese people give people a rigorous and conservative impression, but with such a huge gambling revenue, how big the potential of the Japanese gambling market is. After reading this article, you may have the answer in your mind.

Although gambling may not have a good reputation in Japan, the gambling operations opened by the authorities are limited to the four major sports, horse racing, rowing, motorcycle racing, cycling racing, marbles, and football TOTO lottery. Although these official gambling bets are legal, most of them have betting restrictions. For example, you cannot withdraw money from the pachinko machine, and you can only exchange tokens for prizes. However, there is also news that Japan plans to open up betting on baseball and football matches in order to expand its sources of income. In addition, Mahjong is also one of the favorite gambling games among Japanese people in Japan.

Favorite types of gambling games in Japan

Favorite types of gambling games in Japan
Slot machine
Slot machines are popular among gamblers almost all over the world, but in Japan, the average number of slot machine players is higher than in other countries. Mainly thanks to the simple and easy-to-play nature of slot machines.

Pinball game
The scale of Japanese pinball games is unimaginable. Just like slot machines, almost all Japanese people know how to play pinball games. Pinball games can be said to be the king of Japanese gambling games.

Poker
Poker has its loyal users all over the world. Poker is also very popular in Japan, where there are many poker veterans.

Japanese Mahjong
It is famous for Tatsuma Mahjong, which is a variation of traditional Mahjong. When you talk about Mahjong in Japan, almost everyone knows it.

Dragon Tiger
Similar to baccarat, users can feel the pleasure of winning money quickly by looking at the number of points in their hand.

Lottery
In Japan, like other countries in the world, the most popular game is lottery. Since most countries have official lotteries, these lotteries are very popular.

Summary

Japan has experienced the 2019 Rugby World Cup and the 2021 Olympic and Paralympic Games, as well as the upcoming 2025 Osaka Expo, its evolving business culture, and the introduction of integrated resorts in the next few years. The Japanese gaming market will accelerate its development. At the same time, with the development of the Internet, the demand for iGaming users has also expanded. However, when entering the Japanese gambling market, you must also consider Japanese culture, religion, beliefs, and user operating habits. For example, when playing slot machine games, young users prefer to choose slot machine games with two-dimensional interfaces. For example, when choosing games from a cultural perspective, Japanese people prefer to choose gambling games about Japan’s mythological system. The translation in language must be precise and precise so that the gambling platform can enter the Japanese gambling market seamlessly and without violation. TC-GAMING has been deeply involved in the gambling baggage industry for 16 years and is also an established gambling baggage company. TC-GAMING relies on a highly skilled team and excellent one-on-one dedicated services. The safe and stable white label iGaming system has won the trust of the majority of gaming tycoons. TC-GAMING hires senior local language experts for translation. At the same time, the product design is also designed by local senior product managers and senior UI designers. The website can be launched in 10 minutes, allowing you to quickly integrate into the Japanese gaming market. TC-GAMING is your best choice!