There are indicators in Japan that unlawful betting charges – notably on baseball – have been hovering, in response to a complete examine.
Almost three months after his preliminary reporting date for crimes associated to sports activities betting, Ippei Mizuhara is to give up to federal authorities in June to start a 57-month jail sentence.
Mizuhara, the disgraced former interpreter for Shohei Ohtani, is one thing of a pariah in Japan, the place the Dodgers baseball star is seen as a nationwide hero. In February, Mizuhara acquired a prolonged sentence in reference to embezzling no less than $17 million from Ohtani to feed his playing behavior. Born in Tomakomai, a port metropolis on Japan’s second-largest island, Mizuhara might face deportation from the US following his jail keep.
Again in Japan, the place baseball is the nationwide pastime, the speed of unlawful sports activities playing apparently has been hovering. Final 12 months, residents of Japan positioned roughly ¥6.45 trillion ($44.6 billion) in abroad sports activities wagers regardless that the websites are unlawful, in response to a report from the nation’s Council for Sports activities Ecosystem Promotion. Whereas the market has grown significantly, arrests for gambling-related offences are nonetheless minimal, in response to the CSEP, which on 14 Could published findings of a comprehensive investigation.
The fast progress in sports activities betting in Japan exhibits little indicators of abating. Of the huge quantities wagered offshore, roughly ¥1 trillion consists of bets involving home sports activities in Japan, the investigation discovered. That vast quantity raises questions on sports activities playing habits in Asia’s third-richest nation.
A black eye for Japanese baseball
The report was issued a number of weeks after two members of the Yomiuri Giants were referred to prosecutors for allegedly playing on unlawful on-line on line casino websites.
The 2 gamers, Luis Okoye and Daiki Masuda, misplaced tens of millions of yen on on-line video games comparable to baccarat and blackjack. Okoye, a nine-year veteran, has 14 profession residence runs and a batting common of .226 since becoming a member of the Nippon Skilled Baseball league in 2016. The outfielder wagered about ¥7 million on on-line on line casino video games, producing a unfavourable steadiness of round ¥4.5 million, according to Mainichi Shimbun, the nation’s largest day by day newspaper.
Amid a league investigation, the NPB accused 14 players across seven teams of partaking in unlawful playing in February.

Reminders of the ‘Black Mist’ scandal
The Yomiuri Giants garnered headlines in 2015 when a number of gamers admitted to betting on baseball. In response to the membership, pitcher Shoki Kasahara wagered on 10 pro baseball games, whereas additionally betting on baseball at highschool stage.
The workforce additionally accused one other pitcher on the time, Ryuya Matsumoto, of wagering on no less than 10 video games over a four-month interval. Whereas each pitchers admitted to wagering on baseball, they were not accused of betting on games involving their own team. A 3rd participant, Satoshi Fukuda, additionally admitted to wagering on highschool video games.
The trio additionally admitted to betting on MLB video games within the US, according to The Japan Times. Whereas no proof emerged that the gamers engaged in match-fixing, the Occasions reported that the probe examined doable hyperlinks to organised crime. The playing violations occurred practically 50 years after the “Black Mist scandal“, during which a number of Japanese gamers accepted cash from the famed Yakuza syndicate to fix a series of games.
Unlawful markets dwarf sports activities lottery betting
In the present day, there are clear indicators that Japanese bettors are wagering closely on home baseball on offshore websites.
Of all wagers, home baseball led the best way with a 2024 deal with of ¥528.1 billion, in response to the CSEP report. The quantity dwarfed soccer, the subsequent highest at ¥333.4 billion, and basketball with ¥86.9 billion. Tennis ranked fourth, adopted by a pair of area of interest sports activities in volleyball and rugby.
Whereas horse racing is enormously well-liked in Japan, betting on most sports activities is closely restricted.
Sports activities wagering in Japan is accessible legally on a restricted foundation by a government-run sports activities lottery. The choices are sparse, with solely minor sports activities comparable to motorboat racing and biking accessible. Consequently, Japanese bettors wagered ¥133.6 billion on sports activities lotteries in fiscal 12 months 2024, roughly 48 occasions lower than the quantity reportedly wagered offshore.
In soccer alone, Japanese bettors wagered trillions of yen.
Unprecedented wagering patterns by Ippei
The son of a chef, Mizuhara moved to Los Angeles as a younger boy in 1991. He performed goalkeeper on a varsity soccer workforce at Diamond Bar Excessive Faculty earlier than returning to Japan to function an interpreter for the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters.
There, he met Ohtani, a teenage prodigy for the NPB workforce. In addition to working as Ohtani’s interpreter, Mizuhara grew to become an in depth confidant of the Japanese star, serving as his catcher in bullpen periods, making ready lavish meals and forging a bond by frequent online game battles. Mizuhara adopted Ohtani to the Los Angeles Angels in 2018.
In California, Mizuhara engaged in rampant betting patterns of extraordinarily excessive wagers on the unlawful market. Over a 37-month interval, he positioned roughly 19,000 wagers with an enterprise run by unlawful bookmaker Matt Bowyer. Mizuhara incurred losses so extreme that he had a web steadiness of unfavourable $40.2 million when he severed his relationship with Bowyer.
The “Mizuhara Scandal” can be featured within the well-liked animated sequence “The Simpsons,” which is alleged to be the longest-running program in U.S. tv historical past.
The story is predicated on a fraud case involving Ippei Mizuhara, an interpreter for the Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani. pic.twitter.com/bxkQLnU1bD
— worldwalker (@worldwalker_now) April 27, 2025
His relationship with Ohtani got here to a head in March 2024 when studies surfaced that Mizuhara wagered closely on sports activities. The interpreter initially informed ESPN that Ohtani had data of his betting exercise, however he later recanted the story.
Mizuhara had impersonated Ohtani quite a few occasions in calls with financial institution officers to achieve approval for six-figure wire transfers that went to Bowyer’s operation. Dominated a sufferer of large theft by Main League Baseball, Ohtani has been cleared of all wrongdoing.
Mizuhara is now scheduled to give up to federal jail authorities by 16 June.
The response on Japanese soil
A 3-time MVP honoured in each the American and Nationwide League, Ohtani has ostensibly develop into the Japanese model of Babe Ruth in his native nation. Returning residence for the Tokyo Collection in March, Ohtani crushed a 99mph fastball 389 ft for a solo residence run.
Lauding Ohtani for blocking out the strain of taking part in earlier than a rabid residence crowd, Dodgers supervisor Dave Roberts likened the two-way player to a superhero.
Ohtani has additionally positioned the playing scandal squarely within the rear view mirror. Days after studies surfaced on Mizuhara’s betting habits, Ohtani denied inserting any wagers on baseball or on sports activities on the whole.
He went on to provide a report 12 months in 2024 when he grew to become the primary participant in MLB historical past to notch 50 residence runs and 50 stolen bases in the identical season. Final fall, he added three dingers within the postseason, en path to the primary World Collection title in his illustrious profession.
Mizuhara, in the meantime, has acquired strident criticism in Japan for bringing Ohtani into disrepute. Taro Abe, a reporter who covers Ohtani for Japanese newspaper Chunichi Shimbum, informed the Los Angeles Occasions that Ohtani is seen as a sufferer who was hoodwinked by the interpreter. For a participant seen as almost “flawless”, there have been virtually no studies in Japan that solid doubt on Ohtani, Abe famous.
Natsuko Aoike, who covers the Dodgers star for Japan newspaper Tokyo Sports activities, described the scandal as a “main, main story”, on par with the media protection of a presidential election. Even earlier than the scandal, Ohtani sometimes garnered prime headlines each day, Aoike defined.
A plan to fight unlawful betting
Final month, MGM Resorts broke floor on MGM Osaka, an $8.9 billion on line casino resort deliberate in Japan’s second-largest metropolis. The nation’s first gambling-related resort is projected to be completed by the autumn of 2030, though there is no such thing as a indication that sports activities betting may also develop into authorized.
As unlawful sports activities betting proliferates, many overseas international locations have engaged in information-sharing initiatives with the Council of Europe as the bottom of operations, the authors wrote within the CSEP examine. The initiative is predicated on the Macolin Conference, a authorized instrument and the one rule of worldwide legislation on sports activities manipulation.
Whereas the Japanese council has shaped a examine group to debate measures in opposition to illicit sports activities betting, the nation has but to implement a system based mostly on the conference, in response to the CSEP.