Press "Enter" to skip to content

Entertainment world to follow sumo in baseball betting clampdown

Shukan Jitsuwa Sep. 2
Shukan Jitsuwa Sep. 2
As the world of sumo continues to grapple with revelations that wrestlers routinely gambled on baseball games, weekly tabloid Shukan Jitsuwa (Sep. 2) reports that police authorities are now targeting entertainers for the same illegal activity.

A former member of a gangster organization is at the center of a police investigation.

“The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department seems to know which entertainers are involved in baseball betting,” says a person related to the investigation. “And in tracking them down, it all is going back to the same former gangster. So he is the key guy in the betting scheme.”

Among those suspected to be partaking are a famous idol and an enka singer.

“The idol is a huge fan of the Yomiuri Giants,” explains a production manager at a big firm. “He’ll wager around 20,000 or 30,000 yen on Giants games. Even though the amounts are small, that is still betting. The enka singer owns his own team, and he loves betting. He’ll put down one million yen a week. He’s even been getting enka composers involved.”

According to a person with knowledge of baseball betting, the enka singer has had a strong relationship with the former gang member. “He was a sponsor to the enka singer,” says the source. “That’s how the gambling started, and he became addicted. The gang member also has access to underground casinos, and he sponsored wrestler Chiyotaikai, the former ozeki, who was never questioned in the betting scandal.

“The gangster wound up marrying a large-breasted model after engaging in extra-marital affairs with her,” the course continues.

A person in the mass media adds, “The former gangster was marked by the police, mainly due to unusual behavior resulting from suspected drug use. When he was first seeing the large-breasted model, he ran a high-end real estate firm.”

But now, Shukan Jitsuwa says, the former gangster is nowhere to be found.

“The police are attending parties and events organized by the former gangster,” adds the same source close to the investigation. “But they can’t find him, and he’s since divorced the big-breasted model.”

Should the former gangster be found, the tabloid concludes, a can of worms will be opened up regarding illegal activities within the entertainment world. Though the current status of the big-breasted model might be of more interest to the average Jitsuwa reader. (K.N.)

Source: “Sosatokyoku ga maaku suru yakyu tobaku no omono ichimi,” Shukan Jitsuwa (Sep. 2, page 209)