Gambling Law in Japan
Japan has legalized casino gambling within the country’s borders on December 26, 2016. After legalizing, casino gambling services can be provided in the country, although another legislative piece is voted on and comes into effect, which will allow to build such establishments in Japan.
Implementation bill
If there are no obstacles on the way, it will be possible to visit first Japanese casinos in 2024. The implementation bill should be passed by the lawmakers and this will take up to a year. Then, it will take about 6 months to release and complete a request for concept and a request for proposal processes. The implementation bill is needed to define a number of significant issues as to the number, location, and operation of the future casinos. According to the gambling insiders, among the possible places for Japan’s casinos are two large resorts in two major metropolitan areas i.e. Osaka, Yokohama and Tokyo.
Support of the bill
The casino bill has gained support from the country legislators but not from Japanese people. It has always been supported by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his governing Liberal Democratic Party. The poll made by Kyodo News, Japanese news agency, showed that country’s top officials became less popular after the bill was accepted by six percent.
Such attitude of ordinary residents proves that they worry that gambling addiction cases may increase if the doors of the casinos open for visitors.
One more poll, conducted by Japan’s national public broadcaster NHK, defined that only 12 percent of the people, who took part in it, liked the idea of integrated casino resorts in Japan. On the contrary, 44 percent of the interviewees express dissatisfaction with the appearance of future gambling venues. / Japanese legislators promised to take into consideration such concerns of residents and to work out some safeguards, which will aim to protect exposed layers of country population.
It is supposed that future gambling establishments might bring around $20-$40 billion of full-year income and this would make Japan a casino gambling powerhouse. Furthermore, the building of integrated resorts is highly anticipated by the country’s tourism industry as this can lead to the further development of tourism.
