SoraNews24 —Japan News—

Bringing you yesterday's news from Japan and Asia, today.

TOP

» Japan
» Chinese man wins 1.8 billion yen from betting on Japanese horse races — what’s his secret?

Featured

Weird
Studio Ghibli
Jobs

Chinese man wins 1.8 billion yen from betting on Japanese horse races — what’s his secret?

Ingrid Tsai Jul 27, 2020
Tweet

If this was a spam advert, we’d have to say something along the lines of “local gambling enthusiasts are furious!”

Though many forms of gambling are illegal in Japan, one of the few ways people can legally gamble is through keiba, or betting on horse races. Strictly overseen by Japan’s Ministry of Agriculture, horse races run continuously throughout the year, frequented by listless middle-aged men and local gambling hobbyists.

However, for one Chinese man in his thirties who resided in Nagoya, Japan, betting on horse races was a lucky side gig as he was able to win 1.8 billion yen from his bets. (US$16.8 million)

▼ We did the math and 1.8 billion yen is enough to buy 10,000,000 pieces of famichiki a.k.a. fried chicken from Japanese convenience store Family Mart.

How did he do it? According to the Chunichi Shimbun, the Chinese man was able to amass 1.8 billion yen in winnings by using a special software program that predicted the winning horse of a race. In addition to using this software program, the Chinese man also received a hefty amount of financial capital from Chinese investment groups.

Using the software program, the extra funds, and online horse race betting websites, the Chinese man technically won 9.5 billion yen ($89.5 million) total but 7.7 billion yen (US$72,555,606.20) was subtracted due to the cost of buying betting tickets.

▼ At least the dude saved his wrist from carpal tunnel by not betting the traditional pen-and-paper way.

While it’s unknown if the Chinese man was supposed to split his winnings with the investment groups that graciously provided him money, needless to say, many netizens were shocked as well as amused:

“Okay but like… what does he get after taxes?”

“I’m honestly having a hard time believing this. You sure this isn’t fake news?”

“Does he have a spare copy of the software?”

“Now that’s a story anyone can be honestly jealous of.”

“As long as you’ve got that capital, you can win at anything if you just spend it all!”

Unfortunately for the Chinese man though, he hid his gambling earnings and it wasn’t until he had to file his tax return that the Nagoya Tax Bureau discovered his secret. But even after coughing up the amount for his taxes and a heavy fine, the man was still left with 800 million yen. ($7.5 million)

▼ Wanna sneak me a few grand for my student loans?

While the gambler who ran out of luck has returned to China, according to his mother who still resides in Japan, at least he’s not up to more mean-hearted shenanigans such as this one man making counterfeit 10,000 yen bills to spite random pedestrians.

Source: Chunichi Shimbun via Hamusoku
Top image: Pakutaso
Insert images: Pakutaso (1, 2, 3)
● Want to hear about SoraNews24’s latest articles as soon as they’re published? Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!