Japan: Over 1 million participants in illegal online casinos

Amusement & Gaming Resaerch has announced the following figures regarding the participation of illegal online casinos from Japan.

Online Casino More than 1 million participants from Japan? https://amusement-gaming-research-japan.blogspot.com/2020/10/100.html?m=1
Although it is just a participant in the player, let's estimate the participants in the live casino.

According to the "Pachinko / Pachislot Player Survey 2019" (a joint survey by Seeds, Enbiz Research Institute, and APJ) based on a large-scale consumer survey, the estimated number of people participating in games "twice a week or more" is 2.37 million, "monthly." "About 4 to 5 times" is 2.61 million, and "About once a month" is 2.4 million. Multiplying this by the live casino participant rate for each game frequency in this survey gives 237 x 0.229 + 261 x 0.188 + 240 x 0.011 = 1.06 million.

It is an estimate limited to pachinko / pachislot participant and even among illegal online casinos, which is a limited business format called live casino (those who participate in the game while watching the live distribution of table games), but at least nationwide. The result of participating in more than 1.06 million illegal online casinos is shocking.

First of all, it is clearly illegal to access and place bets on online casinos operated overseas from within Japan. This was planned by me and my friend Masayuki Watanabe in November 2013 and was clarified by the government's response to the questionnaire issued in 2013 by members of the House of Representatives and Takeshi Shina. Yes, this is a legal fact in which questions have been asked many times in the Diet and similar answers have been given each time.

There are two reasons why the illegal participation of online casinos does not decrease at all in Japan. The first is that the government agency that has jurisdiction over this is responsible for turning the basin and will not take any measures against it. This can be seen in the exchanges held at the House of Councilors Finance and Finance Committee on April 10, 2018.

Kenzo Fujisue (Liberal Democratic Party counselor): 

https://kokkai.ndl.go.jp/#/detail?minId=119614370X01120180410&spkNum=190&single

The IR method will be established, and a physical casino will be established in Japan. I think a lot of people will probably start to understand the rules. And as it flows more and more online. The situation where there is no regulation at that time, really. By the way, some people may think that the IR headquarters should do it when it comes to who regulates it, but in reality, the IR headquarters is legally only able to play physical casinos.

Then, when asked who will do the online one, the National Police Agency will not do it, the Ministry of Justice will not do it, so the situation is that who will do it, so I would like to say this and end the question. I will let you know, but next time I will issue a paper properly and I will ask you a question, so please answer by all means. Both government offices, please.

Kenzo Fujisue, a member of the LDP, asks questions about illegal participation in online casinos at the committee to the Ministry of Justice, which has jurisdiction over criminal law, and the Police Agency, which has jurisdiction over law enforcement for illegal gambling. , Both have a stance that they are not in charge of measures against illegal online casinos. In addition, the Casino Regulatory Commission, which is in charge of casino control in Japan, is legally only under the jurisdiction of casinos that operate facilities, so in the end, there is no entity in this country that takes measures against illegal online casinos.

What is happening because the government does not take any measures against illegal online casinos is that the illegal Haz online casinos themselves continue to be recognized in Japan as if they were not illegal. False discourses such as there is no law to regulate online casinos in Japan (actually criminal gambling charges apply) are endlessly made on the Internet, mainly by affiliate companies who earn income from sending customers to overseas online casinos. In a blink of an eye, the official opinion of the government in November 2013, which introduced earlier will be filled in. As a result, what is happening is the recognition by general consumers that the use of overseas online casinos is not illegal.

Based on the "Questionnaire Survey on Illegal Gambling Recognition conducted by a YouTube channel on September 29, this year, for 100 men and women over the age of 20 nationwide asked about online casinos from Japan. 41% of the respondents correctly recognized it as illegal and the same percentage of respondents answered that it was gray zone and misunderstood it as legal. It is known that about 60% of the total including those who do not have accurate knowledge about online casinos played from within Japan are illegal. This is a surprisingly low percentage of correct answers compared to, for example, the perception of illegality in domestic mahjong gambling. (78% of all mahjong gambling are correctly recognized as illegal)

In this way, the result of the fact that the affiliates of overseas companies are attacking in the form of taking advantage of the absence of measures against illegal Internet casinos in Japan and the false recognition of illegality is spreading to the people is the result of In pachinko fans introduced at the beginning. More than 1 million people participated in live casinos 10.7% of all pachinko fans participated in live casinos in the last year and 12%, I have never played but are interested. The current situation is that it has become a reserve army.

As a result of turning the basin of the Ministry of Justice and the National Police Agency, there is still no competent authority to deal with this. As a result, how long does Japan intend to leave the current situation where no measures are taken? Immediate action is required.