Sportstoto Korea, the operator of the Korean sports betting game Sportstoto, said Monday that foreign residents can now sign up for the official online betting website of Sportstoto starting Thursday.

Similar to horse race gambling, Sportstoto is a legal form of sports gambling in Korea in which participants receive sports promotion voting rights – commonly referred to as sports lottery tickets – to place their bets on match outcomes based on careful calculation and prediction.

Betting categories include basketball, football, baseball, volleyball and golf. The betting games include guessing the potential winners of a game and guessing the final scores.

Sportstoto's official website, called Betman, makes it easy for people to participate in the games online.

Previously, Betman’s site policy specified that only South Korean citizens with a valid resident registration number could sign up, leaving foreign residents with the sole option of purchasing Sports Toto tickets at offline stores.

To resolve this inconvenience, Sportstoto Korea said it updated its policy and system to expand services for foreign residents as well.

“We hope that this update will make the process of purchasing tickets for foreign users more convenient,” the company said. “We will continue our efforts to bolster the competitiveness of our business.”

Foreign residents can sign up for an account by agreeing to terms and conditions, verifying their identity, then entering their information. Like Korean citizens, foreign residents can use their mobile phones, I-PIN, or a certificate of authentication for self-verification.

To purchase Sportstoto tickets, users must register a valid bank account number registered under their own name.

The collection methods for payouts on winning tickets are different for Korean citizens and foreign residents based on whether or not the ticket is subject to taxation, the company explained.

The tax-free prize winnings purchased by foreign members are deposited to Betman account. For taxable prize winnings, First, foreign members must apply for the payout before checking the winning details through the Betman site.

Second, enter prescribed information to receive a ‘certificate of payout for foreigners.’

Lastly, bring a ‘certificate of payout for foreigners,’ to any Woori bank to claim the payout after the identification verification.

After signing up, members can also enjoy access to other services such as analyses of sports matches, the site’s user community and a points collection system called Betball used for special events.

Sportstoto Korea plans to release promotional videos and materials on its social media accounts to advertise the new membership access for foreign residents and expand its user base.