Smoking Areas at JRA Racecourses and WINS Betting Halls in Japan (2026)

What the official pages actually say

JRA publishes a stand map for each racecourse, and alongside it a short list of notes for visitors. One of those notes states that the racecourse is non-smoking in principle. The phrasing implies designated exceptions exist, but their locations are shown on the stand map rather than described in the page text, so the practical step is to open the map for the specific racecourse before you go. JRA also notes that services can differ between race days and off-track sales days, and that the stand map may change without notice.

WINS halls are city-centre betting facilities, usually occupying several floors of a building. Their facility pages list what is on each floor, and smoking rooms appear in those lists. The labels differ between sites — some pages say 喫煙専用室 (dedicated smoking room), others say 喫煙ルーム (smoking room) — so the label alone does not tell you which category of room it is under Japanese law. Check the sign at the entrance.

The legal background

• The revised Health Promotion Act took full effect on 1 April 2020, making facilities used by many people non-smoking indoors by default (source: MHLW https://jyudokitsuen.mhlw.go.jp/)
• Compliant rooms come in categories: a dedicated smoking room allows smoking but no food or drink; a heated-tobacco-only room allows heated tobacco with food and drink
• Schools, hospitals and childcare facilities are smoke-free across the entire premises and cannot install indoor smoking rooms
• No one under 20 may enter a smoking area, even if they are not there to smoke
• Article 27(1) of the Health Promotion Act requires anyone smoking outside a prohibited area to have regard to their surroundings so as not to cause unwanted second-hand smoke (source: e-Gov https://laws.e-gov.go.jp/law/414AC0000000103)
• Article 28 of the Horse Racing Act prohibits people under 20 from purchasing or receiving betting tickets (source: e-Gov https://laws.e-gov.go.jp/law/323AC0000000158)

Planning your visit

Open the JRA page for the specific venue, note which floor the smoking room is on, and confirm the room type from the sign on site. If you step outside a WINS hall, remember that many municipalities restrict street smoking and impose fines, with areas and amounts that vary — check the municipal website for the district you are visiting. You can look up designated smoking spots nearby on the MottoSuitai smoking area map, and the categories of smoking room are explained in our Health Promotion Act explainer.

Scope of this article

This is a third-party summary of JRA official pages, MHLW guidance and statutory texts as of August 2026. It does not state where individual smoking areas are located, does not confirm that any particular facility currently has one, and does not encourage betting or smoking. Layouts and operations change, so always confirm with the official page and on-site signage.