JOPT faces backlash over condom and lube prizes in Ladies Championship

Posted on: October 6, 2026 20:42 PDT

The Japan Open Poker Tour (JOPT) is facing backlash for including condoms and lubricant as additional sponsored prizes for the top finishers in its upcoming Ladies Championship at the tour's festival in Tokyo.

Sagami Rubber Industries, a Japanese company that manufactures condoms and other related products, partnered with the JOPT to serve as the event's lead sponsor.

"As additional prizes for 1st to 3rd place, Sagami Original 001 series, 99% water-based lubricant gel, T-shirts, and other products and apparel will be presented in sets according to ranking," reads the JOPT's announcement of the sponsorship. "Sagami, which has continued to create products for women and loving couples, supports the journey and challenges of women players."

In a press release from Sagami announcing its sponsorship of the event, the prizes are listed as Product Gift Sets.

The JOPT website originally listed the specific items in each Product Gift Set, but has been altered to reflect the language seen in the Sagami press release.

Additional sponsored prizes for the top three finishers in the Ladies Championship include branded merchandise and jewelry.

There are no cash prizes for in-the-money finishers in the Ladies Championship. Japanese gaming laws prohibit cash payouts for tournament winners, forcing organizers to use sponsorships and tournament packages as prizes.

Online backlash

The Ladies Championship prizes have, understandably, drawn the ire of many on social media.

"Is this some kind of joke?" asked 'whitezexy' on X. "It's a tournament meant to broaden the base of female players, yet they're handing out massive quantities of sex products to the top three women.

"Honestly, it just looks like they're treating the winners not as 'players' but as sexual beings."

Joey Ingram came across the post from 'whitezexy' and couldn't believe what he was reading – Grok, the platform's AI model, clarified that the information was accurate.

'whitezexy' responded to Ingram with further clarification, informing him that there are no cash prizes for the ¥30,000 ($190) buy-in event.

Rather, they told him, the prize pool consists of $10,895 worth of player contracts/tournament tickets and the Sagami products are additional sponsored prizes, awarded to the top three finishers.

"1st place gets 150 condoms + 3 bottles of lube, 2nd gets 80 condoms + 3 bottles, and 3rd gets 40 condoms + 1 bottle," 'whitezexy' told Ingram.

'HarunA', winner of a December 2025 JOPT Ladies Championship, wrote on X: "I feel really sick about this. I absolutely won't participate in this JOPT Ladies event."

"This is the worst," said 'elecom_pk', also on X. "I cleared my schedule to enter the ladies' event, but I'm absolutely not going."

The Ladies Championship is one of several sponsored events on the schedule. Other sponsored events advertise prizes that include cigars, beauty products, brand merchandise, and jewelry.

Whether the JOPT will make adjustments to its Ladies Championship prizes remains to be seen.

^{Featured image courtesy of Japan Open Poker Tour.}