Nippon Professional Baseball commissioner Katsuhiko Kumazaki on Thursday declined comments regarding a recent proposal by lawmakers to make professional baseball the centerpiece of a new lottery.
"I am aware of media reports but I have received no concrete or formal contact, and at this time, I am not in a situation that I can comment," said Kumazaki.
A bipartisan caucus of Diet members supporting sports decided earlier this week to consider pro baseball for a lottery with the presumed purpose of earmarking funds for construction costs of the new National Stadium and other projects.
The lawmakers considering reforms to the soccer lottery law, known as toto, are expected to seek cooperation in discussions with NPB as well as the Japan Professional Baseball Players Association and related bodies by early May.
A backlash, however, is expected given baseball's resistance to a lottery system not to mention the mea culpa that resulted from the "Black Mist Scandal," in which several star players received suspensions, salary cuts or lifetime bans for game fixing between 1969 and 1971.
In the event that a new baseball lottery is launched, the project team has agreed to have a computer choose winners and losers at random to avoid the possibility of game fixing.
"As I've said I have not had any formal contact. There is nothing more or less to say," said Kumazaki, when asked about the possibility of talks with the group.