Japan Mini Loto Exposed — The World’s Best Lottery Odds?

Japan Mini Loto Review

Are you looking for the world’s lotto that has the most spectacular odds ever? You may have found it! Over the years, we’ve reviewed lotteries from all corners of the globe. Japan’s Mini Lotto came as a massive surprise due to the fantastic odds and the relatively big prizes it has to offer.

There’s nothing mini about this lottery other than its name.

Held weekly and organized by a national entity, the Takarakuji Mini Loto is very exciting and worth a try.

Is TheLotter legit in Japan?

Japan Mini Loto: Introduction

Mini Loto Japan has been around for a long time already. The game was first launched in 1999, and ever since it’s turned into a national favorite. Drawings take place one time per week, giving players regular chances to explore the odds and eventually win a cool prize.

A national entity called Takarakuji operates the Mini Loto. The portfolio of Takarakuji is pretty extensive since lotteries are popular in the country. A few of the other prominent picks include Bingo 5, Loto 7 and Loto 6, Jumbo Draw, Jumbo Mini, and various others.

How to Play Mini Loto?

There’s no need to wonder about how to play Mini Loto – it’s pretty simple and straightforward.

The Japanese lotto is a regular game – there’s a fixed set of numbers, and you have to choose some of those. In this specific case, the set consists of 31 numbers, and you have to select five if you want to win the weekly jackpot.

An individual ticket costs 200 yen, and it can be bought every day of the week, including o Tuesdays when the Mini Loto Japan drawings take place. The drawing is televised and broadcast live on national TV, giving players an immediate chance to acquaint themselves with the results.

Because of the favorable odds and the straightforward gameplay method, over 30 million people in Japan play Mini Loto every week.

Japan Mini Loto Prizes and Odds

You already know how to win Mini Loto Japan – you need to match the five digits for the respective weekly drawing. The odds of that happening are one in 169,911. Very few other national lotteries come with such spectacular odds of claiming a prize.

Mini Loto has a minimum guaranteed jackpot of 12 million yen. If there’s no winner for the respective drawing, the sum will roll over toward the next one. Thus, Mini Loto has been known to accumulate some massive amounts in the jackpot account over time. When a few drawings go by without a winner, the sum can reach more than 40 million yen.

Other than the jackpot, there are three additional prize tiers.

Those who match four numbers will win the second prize. The odds of this happening are five in 169,911. The second prize averages 140,000 yen (it will vary from one drawing to another due to the pari-mutuel structure of the prize tiers).

There are two additional lower prize tiers. The third prize tier produces an award of 10,000 yen, and the lowest prize is 1,000 yen.

Can You Play Mini Loto Japan Online?

When you go to the official Mini Loto Japan website, you’ll find out there’s no official online ticket-buying option. There is a web-based and mobile portal. These, however, can be utilized for the sole purpose of checking the latest numbers that have been drawn.

At the time being, there is only one large international online lottery operator that offers Mini Loto Japan tickets online.

If you want to test your luck with the lotto, you’ll have to be in Japan. There are no limitations in terms of the nationalities of people who can buy tickets.

Some Information for Japan Mini Loto Winners

As already mentioned, the Japan Mini Loto drawings are televised and broadcast live. Players will know instantly whether they’ve won something and even if they miss the TV show, the results will be published on the official Takarakuji website.

Players have one year from the date of the drawing to come forward and make a prize claim.

For the pari-mutuel prize tiers, a calculation of the prize amount will be made based on the prize pool (dependent on the number of tickets bought for the respective drawing) and the number of winners in the respective category.

In Japan, lottery prizes are paid out in full. There isn’t an income tax calculated based on the amount you’ve won. The sum being advertised for the respective drawing is the exact one you’re going to claim.

A sum of up to 10,000 yen can be claimed at any of the authorized Takarakuji lottery booths. The payout is immediate. For prizes ranging from 10,001 to 100,000 yen, you will have to take your ticket and a valid form of ID to a bank office (more information about the bank locations you can visit to make a prize claim is available on the Takarakuji official website).

More massive prizes have to be claimed at the Takarakuji headquarters. Sums of up to one million yen are paid out within a day of making the request. If you won a more significant amount, there could be a slightly longer waiting period.

Why should you give the Takarakuji Mini Loto a try? We have a list of reasons for you:

Why You Should Play Japan Mini Loto

Pros:

This is a legitimate, national lottery organized by a licensed entity

Ticket prices are relatively low

Mini Loto has some of the most impressive jackpot-winning odds in the world

There is a minimum guaranteed jackpot

In the event of no win, the jackpot sum will roll over toward the next drawing

Japan does not impose income taxes on lottery prizes

Players have a very long prize claim period of one year

While the lottery is legitimate and worth a try, there are a few small things that we don’t really like about it:

Why You Shouldn’t Play Japan Mini Loto

Cons:

There is only one drawing per week

If you’re looking for a massive, multi-million-dollar jackpot, this isn’t your game

The lower prize tiers are not that exciting

Mini Loto doesn’t offer an online ticket-buying option

Is Japan Mini Loto Legit?

Mini Loto Japan is entirely legitimate and a very reputable game of luck. Even if you didn’t know the fact, Japan has a pretty long and well-established history of lottery games.

Some of the first national efforts to launch a lottery started back in 1954. The Mizuho-style lottery is traditional. There is a guaranteed jackpot and fixed odds of claiming the top prize, much like in the case of other national lotteries across the world.

Takarakuji has a very long and turbulent history. The organization was banned from holding lotteries several times throughout the history of the country, but it eventually re-emerged. Today, you can see Takarakuji booths everywhere. Lotteries are available every day of the week, but Japanese are particularly prone to testing out the Jumbo lotto – an end-of-year occurrence that’s characterized by the biggest jackpots.

Takarakuji usually announces a massive jackpot for the end-of-year draw, which makes the game quite similar to El Gordo in Spain. The top prize alone is generally set at 700 million yen or higher, making it the most massive jackpot out of all the Japanese luck game opportunities.

The history of Takarakuji is well established, and the organization is transparent in its communication with the public. You can play Mini Loto and rest assured that you have a legitimate chance to win.

Japan’s Mini Loto isn’t the biggest monetization opportunity in the world. Still, this national lottery has numerous merits worth highlighting.

Mini Loto isn’t the most popular game in Japan. The country has a few other much more prominent monetization opportunities. If you’re looking for a massive jackpot, you may want to explore one of those entries in the Takarakuji portfolio. If you want manageable odds and a fun little opportunity to test your luck, however, Mini Loto will do the trick.