Japan will investigate illicit internet casinos

Japan will investigate illicit internet casinos

 The first inquiry into offshore casinos aimed at Japanese gamers by Japanese police has been revealed.  Although the nation does not allow online gambling yet, igaming sites help to create the impression that playing is legal.

 Investigating offshore gaming enterprises aimed at Japanese gamers, the Japanese National Police Agency (NPA) intends to

 Many times, locals think igaming sites with servers outside of the nation are legal.  Usually misleading gamers, the websites claim either they are lawful or they have not been specifically declared illegal.  To give a layer of credibility, they also assert their licencing in other nations.

 There is limited gambling in Japan.
 Legal lottery play as well as horseracing, bicycle racing, motorbike racing and powerboat racing in Japan.  Article 185 of the Penal Code makes all other kind of gambling illegal.

 When the nation's first land-based casino opens in Osaka in 2030, the scene will drastically change.  Local residents who fit specific income criteria and pay a daily fee will be welcome at the ¥1.08tn (£6.2 billion/€8.1 billion integrated resort).  Foreigners will come in for free.

 Still, resort operator MGM Resorts expects locals to account for the lion's share of visits.  Six million tourists and fourteen million Japanese visitors are projected by the US-based corporation MGM Osaka to attract annually.

 Legalisation of internet casinos was under discussion among legislators under the 2018 IR Development Act.  The law kicked in in 2021.

 Online betting in Japan exploded during COVID-19
 The NPA claims that notably among young people, online gambling in the nation skyrocketed amid Covid-19 lockdowns.  Digital monitoring company Similarweb LTD tracked over 700,000 visitors a month in late 2018.  By autumn of 2021, that figure surged to over 83 million monthly visits.

 Concerns concerning the societal costs follow the expansion in gambling.  Calls linked to online gambling rose 372% between 2019 and 2023, according the Tokyo-based Society Concerned about the Gambling Addiction.

 Legal gambling calls also increased during the period; 28.0% of callers asked about bets on motorboat races, up by 22.7%.  Calls concerning betting on bicycle races accounted for 18.2% of the whole, up 15.5%.  And 28.2% of calls addressed crimes carried out in order to sustain a gambling habit, including theft from family or businesses or loan shark borrowing.

 Debt taken on by obsessive gamblers also averaged ¥8.55m in 2023, according to the association.

 The company cautioned, "the bar has been lowered."  "And in the years ahead, the count of young gambling addicts is only expected to rise."

 Access to gambling "cannot be unrestricted"
 According to a 29 August editorial in the Yomiuri Shimbun, some players are "[incurring] significant debts via online casinos."  They seek for "dark part-time jobs" [including] fraud and other crimes] to pay back them.  People's current free access to internet casinos is grave and must be allowed uncontrolled.

 "Some other nations, such those in Europe, have introduced blocking policies to prevent access to illegal online casinos,," the editorial went on.  "Japan should also take some thought on implementing such an approach."

 Extensively removing the criminal component
 Authorities are simultaneously suppressing online operators and their associates wherever they come across them.

 Two persons were arrested in September for allegedly enabling internet casino payments by police in Tokyo, Aichi, and Fukuoka prefectues—regional governments.  This was the first time someone has been taken under custody on such grounds.  Police estimate the suspects moved tens of billions of yen and collected commission fees of about ¥2.1 billion.

 Seven Kyoto residents were detained in February for running an illicit online casino.  Since it opened in 2011, authorities project the site accepted ¥2.3 billion in deposits.  As usual, site proprietors portrayed it as lawful entertainment.

 Osaka police arrested the ringleader of a significant money-laundering organisation allegedly handling revenue from several criminal enterprises, including online gaming, in June.

 The NPA study will guide next debates on responsible gaming rules and control.  An agency spokesman stated in a statement, "We will collect basic data to understand the situation as soon as possible and come up with countermeasures."