Tokyo's Bunkyo Ward is considering levying a tax on horse-race ticket sales, following in the steps of Yokohama, which approved a plan for a similar such tax in December, ward officials said.

Like Yokohama, Bunkyo Ward is envisaging a 5 percent charge on the balance of betting proceeds after tax payments to the central-government treasury have been made and tickets and prizes reimbursed, the officials said.

Bunkyo Ward, host to the off-track ticket-selling booth with the largest proceeds in the country, is estimating some 1.5 billion yen in additional tax receipts from the scheme.

Wins Korakuen racked up roughly 186 billion yen in revenues in 2000, the largest figure among the 29 off-track booths operated by the Japan Racing Association, an Agriculture, Forest and Fisheries Ministry-affiliate that oversees horse racing in Japan.

Bunkyo Ward is among several local authorities mulling a new tax plan following the April 2000 revision of the tax code for local governments that loosened conditions for them to create new taxes.

In December, Yokohama became the first local government to approve a plan to tax horse-race betting, and the city is now engaged in talks with the Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications Ministry, which ultimately authorizes local government taxes.

The JRA and the farms ministry, however, fearing other local governments will follow suit and target horse-race betting as a new source of revenue, are apparently reluctant to approve the new taxes because of strict central government control.