Japan’s Government Sustains Online Gambling Restrictions

The Japanese government did not think anything about the legalization of online gambling, and it aimed to banned illegal online gambling as before. Hachiro Okonogi denied Japan’s online gambling legalization possibility. He is the Chairperson of the Liberal Democratic Party’s National Public Commission. He claimed that the government would continue to restrict over illegal online gambling operations in the country.

During COVID-19 pandemic, Japan’s residents had visited foreign gambling websites. The Constitutional Democratic Party created confusion about online gambling laws and regulations in Japan.

Okonogi stated that the Integrated Resorts Development Act allows supply on casinos, but it excluded online casinos. He also said that the National Public Safety Commission would distinguish on the internet and take strict actions for such activities.

An illegal online casino was operated in the country, and that is under trial in court. Online casinos are not associated with any of the regulations. Okonogi said about the government’s further step with online gambling that the IR Development Act does not allow online gambling activities because online gambling is currently illegal in the country.

Online illegal gambling initiative

A Tokyo-based subsidiary of SimilarWeb and Asahi Shimbun revealed a study on a digital analysis support company of Israel. According to the survey, John & Vera is a more popular casino website than any other casinos in Japan.

This online casino had 648,000 visitors from japan in December 2018 and it increased the number of its visitors to 77.51 million in January 2020 also from this country. The number was 19.88 million in August 2020 and 49.38 million in November 2020. In Japan, many residents are not aware of this country’s online gambling laws and regulations.

Current view of Gambling law

Japan restricted all sorts of personal gambling activities many years ago and still now. The Integrated Resort Law was legislated in 2016. After two years, it permitted some land-based gambling operations for private operators. Only licensed IR operators are allowed to provide such types of services.

Japanese residents can bet on public sector-operated bicycle races, lotteries, and horse races. They have options to purchase tickets online and bet online. There are no restrictions on digital or land-based skilled games.