The Japan Racing Association (JRA) is on a roll. Earlier this year, the JRA reported betting turnover of JPY3.36 trillion (US$22.1 billion) for 2024, representing the fifth straight year in excess of JPY3 trillion (US$19.7 billion) and 14 straight years of growth, marking a 24-year high.
Net profit also grew by 113.4% year-on-year to JPY64.5 billion (US$423 million).
The association’s CEO, Masayoshi Yoshida, replaced Masayuki Goto in the top job in 2023, with Goto having provided nearly a half century of service to the Japan Racing Association, including nine years at the helm of the gambling colossus. Goto remains in the organization as a “supreme adviser” to the JRA and keeps his senior posts with the Asian Racing Federation and the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities.
Yoshida has inherited an extraordinary Asian gambling industry success story of growth and durability – and he has a formidable track record with the JRA.
He joined the organization 40 years ago, rising through the ranks via corporate planning and racecourse management and becoming a board member and JRA finance and facilities director in 2016. He was appointed executive director in 2021 and then executive vice president in March 2023 before succeeding Goto in September of that year.
