How Japan’s leading igaming affiliate site has captured the imagination of the country’s bettors.
About The Bookmakers
The Bookmakers was launched in 2010 by a former employee of a company that operated online casinos and bookmakers. As Japan’s first bookmaker portal site, the ensuing 12 years has seen the site grow into a kind of bettor’s bible in Japan, constantly delivering the latest information on the industry. In addition to bookmaker rankings, there are two other popular categories on the website: a user forum and a match-prediction section.
Forum with a reputation for dependability
Even though many bookmakers offer Japanese language support, some points are tricky for Japanese players to understand. There are communication difficulties in many cases because of the lack of native-speaking Japanese staff. Happily, The Bookmakers forum is ready and waiting to offer a helping hand. Populated by friendly fellow users and helpful management staff, the forum provides assistance and answers to all sports betting-related topics, including betting methods, deposits and withdrawals – even KYC problems are covered.
The only tipster competition in Japan
The Bookmakers collects match predictions from tipsters and publishes them for free. Each month, more than 100 Japanese tipsters contribute their predictions to the site. As well as baseball and soccer, which are popular in Japan, you’ll find tipsters specialising in sumo and skating, etc. This is a popular section for beginners who are unsure about placing their bets.
Elsewhere, The Bookmakers also offers a wide variety of events and promotions using social networking services such as Twitter, which are extremely popular among core Japanese players. Earlier this year, The Bookmakers held an event where players shared information on their winnings to win a not-for-sale soccer strip or an iPhone. Unsurprisingly popular, it garnered a large number of participants, keeping staff busy tallying up the results.
The Bookmakers has captured the hearts of Japanese bettors. Here CEO Yukari Miyagi shares a bit of insight on the site.
The Bookmakers has been in business for more than 10 years now. What is the most important thing you keep in mind when running the site?
In the past few years, many bookmakers have entered the Japanese market. Some bookmakers are well-run projects employing native Japanese teams, but unfortunately there are also bookmakers that just translate their sites and offer no Japanese-language support. We offer a bridge between Japanese bettors and bookmakers, improving the players’ experience in the process. Our focus is on listing only those bookmakers we are confident to recommend and with whom we can build long-term partnerships.
Do you have any advice for bookmakers that want to enter the Japanese market?
As in any market, it is almost impossible to achieve success without hard work. Importantly, employing native Japanese staff is essential for companies working in the Japanese market. The reason for this is simple: future success will not be possible without providing high levels of hospitality, such as how well you understand your users. I would like to see bookmakers deliver great products to Japanese players, taking into account Japanese culture and player trends.
The Bookmakers is not only concerned with its own site, but also with the entire sportsbook industry in Japan. This is one of the reasons why The Bookmakers is so popular with many Japanese users. We will be keeping a close eye on its future success.