An advisory panel to the education minister approved Tuesday a plan to double the top prize for the Toto soccer lottery to 200 million yen to boost tottering sales.

The Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry plans to have new prize money in place in time for the start of the new J. League season in March, ministry officials said.

The plan was approved by the sports and youth subcommittee of the Central Council for Education, which is part of the education ministry.

The 200 million yen top prize will come into play when there are no winners in a first lottery and the prize money is carried over.

The subcommittee also approved sales of lottery tickets at sports venues, which had refrained from selling lottery tickets due to concerns that the lottery might stoke a passion for gambling.

Some critics say the performance level of Japanese soccer needs be raised first, given that the sport is losing its crowd appeal.

The National Agency for the Advancement of Sports and Health operates the soccer lottery. Tickets cost 100 yen each. Revenues will be used to supplement public budgets for the promotion of sports, such as improving facilities.

But sales have been tapering off, resulting in the suspension of projects, including ones to lay turf on pitches and set up night-lighting equipment for the next fiscal year.

When the soccer lottery was introduced in 2001, annual sales came to 64.2 billion yen before slipping to 36 billion yen in 2002 and 20.3 billion yen last year.