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”.
