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Today, Thursday, September 25, Japan launches its revised gambling laws. The overhauled gambling addiction prevention will prevent online casinos from launching, as well as banning the posting of advertisements across the web, including social media.
This comes as Japan has seen a rise in gambling, despite it being almost entirely outlawed in the country. High-profile cases with celebrities and citizens spending large amounts of cash have become more frequent as online gambling spreads further across the web.
In March, a report was released that found that 3.37 million people in Japan had used an overseas casino before. We’ve reported on such cases before, with an incident in June being linked to Eldoah Casino. This East African operation specifically targets the Japanese with a website entirely in the native language.
Japan introduces new gambling laws to curb addiction
A common reason given in such cases is that the person in question often claims to be unaware of the laws against gambling in the country. Other reasons, like what was given by JO1 boyband member, Shion Tsurubo, is that addiction is quite easy to fall into due to being “so easy” to gain access via phones.
It’s estimated that ¥1.24 trillion ($8.4 billion) is gambled away in Japan on a yearly basis. A group, The Society Concerned about Gambling Addiction’s head honcho, Noriko Tanaka, speaking in The Japan Times, said:
“The official number announced by the NPA and the health ministry on the number of deaths in relation to gambling debts is 398.
“But it is said that only 20% of suicides have their causes identified. There has not been adequate research and surveys into these matters.”
However, Japan might be opening its doors a little further to the world of gambling. While it has banned most forms, some areas are open to integrating casinos into resorts. A similar idea was just shot down in Thailand, but this is how parts of the world where gambling is illegal get around it. Wakayama prefecture is currently on its second round of pitching, after the first was dubbed “sloppy”.
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After months of deliberation and tensions, Thailand’s Entertainment Complex Bill has been shut down. It would have allowed for casinos to be integrated into resorts, similarly to how Macao operates and what is currently being pitched in some parts of Japan. Lawmakers have reasoned that the bill would introduce high costs, social harm, and national security risks.
This comes as Paetongtarn Shinawatra, the previous Prime Minister who was backing the idea, was voted out after a scandal surrounding a leaked phone call. The call between her and Hun Sen, the Cambodian leader, was said to be too respectful, as both Cambodia and Thailand are now embroiled in a “border crisis” that has seen multiple soldiers killed and hundreds of thousands of citizens displaced.
Back in May, Shinawatra slammed critics of the casino bill, saying:
“The investment isn’t coming from the state or people’s tax money; it’s private and foreign capital.
“That means more revenue through taxation, especially from regulated gambling.
“It’s about responsible gambling, there will be strict rules, background checks, and security standards to ensure it’s not a place where anyone can walk in dreaming of winning millions and just leave with it. That’s not how it works.”
Some parts of the general public didn’t agree and had begun protesting the bill.
New Prime Minister of Thailand is anti-gambling
Since her voting out, the new Prime Minister, Anutin Charnvirakul, a staunch opponent of gambling, has now pushed the bill out too. A committee formed to investigate the effects of casinos being introduced into the area found that it would almost certainly increase money laundering and wouldn’t provide the economic boom expected.
This is despite the top bank in the country, Maybank, predicting that casinos could have brought in over $8 billion a year, thanks to the millions that travel through the area. Companies like MGM were also anticipating the bill passing, with multiple casino giants circling Thailand as their next big investment. Now, with the bill dead in the water, it’s back to the drawing board.
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