A revised bill to introduce a soccer lottery system to raise funds to promote sports activities was approved Friday by a Lower House panel, bringing the lucrative but controversial legislation one step closer to enactment.
The Lower House Steering Committee decided later in the day to vote on a soccer pools bill at a plenary session of the House of Representatives next Tuesday, so that the bill can lead to launching soccer pools in Japan in 2000.
The bill envisages pools in which winners are determined by predicting match results for J. League professional soccer matches.