The National Agency for the Advancement of Sports and Health, which operates the J. League soccer lottery, is worried about poor ticket sales.
Sluggish sales for its "Toto" and "Toto Goal" lottery tickets have meant that the agency has had to slash the amount of subsidies it provides to sports facilities.
In fiscal 2001, when the Toto was introduced, annual lottery sales came to about 64.2 billion yen. But sales plunged to 36 billion yen in fiscal 2002 and are expected to fall to 15.8 billion yen in fiscal 2003, which ends in March.