賭博(とばく)

とばく
noun
gambling (formal/legal term)
formalleisurelaw
1. gambling; wagering money or valuables on games of chance
The act of staking money or valuables on the outcome of a game, race, or other event of chance, especially in legal, news, and formal contexts. Most casual conversation uses ギャンブル or 博打(ばくち) instead; 賭博(とばく) appears most often in connection with crime, law, and prohibition.
賭博(とばく)は違法(いほう)だ。
Gambling is illegal.
警察(けいさつ)は違法(いほう)賭博(とばく)を摘発(てきはつ)した。
Police cracked down on illegal gambling.
彼(かれ)は賭博(とばく)に多額(たがく)の借金(しゃっきん)を抱(かか)え、家族(かぞく)にも見放(みはな)されてしまった。
He has run up huge debts from gambling and has even been abandoned by his family.
日本(にほん)の刑法(けいほう)は原則(げんそく)として賭博(とばく)行為(こうい)を禁(きん)じているが、宝(たから)くじや競馬(けいば)など一部(いちぶ)は合法化(ごうほうか)されている。
Japanese criminal law in principle prohibits gambling, but some forms such as the lottery and horse racing have been legalized.

Composed of 賭(と) ('to bet, wager') + 博(ばく) ('to play games for stakes'). Both characters refer to wagering, and the compound is used as the formal Sino-Japanese term for the activity.

Usage

  • Strongly associated with the legal and journalistic register. Newspaper headlines about police raids, court cases, and yakuza activity routinely use 賭博(とばく).
  • The compound noun 賭博(とばく)罪(ざい) ('the crime of gambling') is the actual offense name in Japanese criminal law.
  • Although 賭博(とばく)する is grammatically possible, the noun is far more commonly used with する replaced by other verbs such as 行(おこな)う or 禁(きん)じる, or used without a verb at all in compound nouns.

Common collocations

Similar words

  • 博打(ばくち): gambling — the native, everyday term; rougher and more colloquial; used in personal stories and informal speech.
  • ギャンブル: gambling — common loanword; neutral and modern; the most natural choice in casual conversation.
  • 賭(か)け: a bet; wager — refers to a single bet or wager rather than the activity as a whole.
  • 投機(とうき): speculation — used for high-risk financial bets (stocks, currencies); not for casino-style gambling.
  • 富(とみ)くじ・宝(たから)くじ: lottery — a specific legal form of gambling in Japan.

Related Words

Synonym: 博打(ばくち) (gambling (informal))
Compare: ギャンブル (gambling)
Compare: 賭(か)け (a bet)
Compare: 宝(たから)くじ (lottery)
Related: 賭(か)ける (to bet, to wager)
general
Added 2026.4.17 12:10 · Revised 2026.9.2 13:02
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