Japan's Journey to Legalizing Land Casinos Amidst Opposition
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Japan has greenlit its first casino resort in
Osaka, set to open in 2029. Previously banned, casinos were legalized in 2018
to stimulate job creation and tourism, albeit amid public worries over crime
and gambling addiction.
The 49ha complex, funded by a $13.5bn initial
investment from MGM and Orix Group, will feature a hotel,
conference center, mall, and museum. Projected to attract 20 million visitors
yearly, it could bring 1tn yen in annual economic benefits.
The project faced delays due to Covid-19 and a
corruption scandal. Other plans include a casino in Nagasaki's Dutch-themed
park, Huis Ten Bosch.
The journey to the legalization of land casinos
was long and certainly not easy. In Japan, gambling was generally illegal
except for specific forms such as horse racing and boat racing. Japan is
originally known as a country with very good public safety, and many citizens
were against creating new casinos due to concerns about the impact of gambling
addiction, such as worsening security.
Before the construction site was decided to be
Osaka, several candidate sites were proposed, but Yokohama (the city next to
Tokyo), which was the best candidate, had to give up the construction due to
citizens' concerns about the impact on public safety.
In fact, in Japan, indeed criminal organizations
such as gangs and Yakuza are illegally running casinos, and crimes associated
with them are occurring. It is often the case that famous people are targeted
as customers, and it is unavoidable that citizens have a bad image of casinos
when they are arrested.
However, Japan had to construct casinos, even if
it had to push back against the opposition of the people, and needed to attract
foreign tourists. Japan is experiencing a rapid population decline, and it
might become impossible to maintain the economic power that has been maintained
so far. Therefore, by focusing on the tourism industry, it is trying to bring
economic effects by attracting people from abroad.
Land casinos have been legalized in Japan, but
according to a site called onlinecasinojapan.com, which compares online
casinos in Japan, online casinos are still legally in a gray area. Gambling is
generally illegal, but there is currently no law in Japan that penalizes
playing at online casinos that are legally operated overseas.
As a result, many Japanese gamblers have moved to
online casinos in the wake of the Corona pandemic. However, given the current
situation where Japanese funds are flowing to overseas online casino companies,
there is a high possibility that the Japanese government may take some action
regarding online casinos.
