Japan's professional soccer league, the J. League, was launched in 1993, and since then it has brought many fans into the stadiums. J. League soccer now has another attraction--betting organized along the lines of Europe's popular soccer lotteries. Japan's version, called toto , was launched in March this year to advance the cause of sports in the country. toto has become a craze, especially among people in their 20s. The number of bets placed has exceeded all expectations.

"Sales are amazing. We did a survey of bettors and were surprised to find that many people who never purchase a takara-kuji lottery ticket or bet on the horses are buying toto coupons. That's probably because they enjoy guessing the outcome of a game, and because our prizes give winners lots of cash. toto is a new type of lottery never seen in Japan before."

So says Tamura Yukio, who works for the promoter of toto , the National Stadium and School Health Center of Japan. If sales stay strong, by the time the first birthday of toto rolls around, bettors will have slapped down about 90 billion yen, above the original amount targeted. And more sales outlets are being opened--there will be about 9,000 of them by the end of 2001. If the excitement surrounding toto sweeps up even more people, sales are sure to climb even higher.

The betting system for toto is practically the same as that of the Totocalcio in Italy. For 100 yen you place one bet, predicting wins, losses and draws in 13 designated matches among the J. League's official games. The prize money depends on the number of winners. In the last 12 contests, the average prize for each winner who get all predictions right was about 36 million yen. The biggest prize was 100 million yen, the maximum permitted by law.

So what happens to the profits? The law says that all money left over after paying winnings and operating expenses is to go for the advancement of sports--in other words, for sports-related capital expenditures, the training of sports instructors, and other investments in the future of sports. In Japan, almost every elementary and junior high school has its own swimming pool, sports field, and gym with courts for games like basketball, and these facilities are sometimes open to the general public. Taking into account the fact that these facilities are already available, the decision was made to use toto profits to improve clubhouses and other sporting facilities, and to offer expertise in sports training. The aim is to maintain a fund that can be used to develop a sporting environment for all people in Japan. We can assume that one ultimate goal is to help more Japanese athletes win medals at the Olympics and other international competitions.