The Japan Times – Japan’s government is considering legalizing gambling in Japan, one of the world’s last untapped markets for gambling. Two billionaire casino operators are pushing to open casino resorts and turn Japan into the third-largest center for gambling after the United States and Macau. Gambling will bring problems. The examples of the U.S. and the United Kingdom should be sufficient to show that legalized gambling exacerbates problems. The evidence gathered from those two countries over the last several decades of removing prohibitions on gambling shows huge increases in gambling addiction, crime, personal debt and mental health issues, while…

CNN – While Japan’s economy continues to falter, lawmakers are betting big that the casino industry can swoop in and lift it out of the doldrums. Gambling is currently illegal in Japan, though many play pachinko, a quintessentially Japanese game often likened to pinball. While cash prizes are forbidden, many pachinko parlors work on a gray economy where prizes are exchanged — off-premises — for hard currency. This week, a major conference focusing on the future of the industry opened in Tokyo. It comes at a time when key legislation is being pushed through Japan’s parliament that could pave the…

Reuters – Moves towards legalising casinos in Japan have reignited a debate over the legal status of pachinko, with a potential new tax mooted for a $200 billion gaming industry that has existed for decades on the fringes of the law. Pachinko, a slot-cum-pinball form of gambling, is a national obsession, with one in six Japanese playing the game, though that number is declining as younger generations prefer to play games on their mobile phones. With past links to organized crime, pachinko is not classified as gambling, which is illegal in Japan. Instead it’s treated as an amusement activity like…

Bangkok Post – A Japanese gambler is taking on tax authorities by claiming his bad bets on horse races were a deductible business expense, a report said Wednesday. The man, a civil servant in Hokkaido, won a whopping 7.84 billion yen ($76.9 million) over six years to 2010, but lost 7.27 billion yen in the process, according to the English edition of the Asahi Shimbun. He declared the balance of 570 million yen as “miscellaneous income,” arguing that because his other winnings were cancelled out by his losses, the losing stubbs represented a legitimate cost of his business, the paper…

International Business Times – ames Packer’s Asian gaming joint-venture Melco Crown wants to build a casino in Tokyo in time for the 2020 Olympics, according to The Australian. Japan is included in the company’s international expansions, along with Vietnam and South Korea, Todd Nisbet, the Crown executive leading the Japan casino bid, said. Other casino giants vying for Japan’s approval for the right to build and operate casinos include Wynns and Las Vegas Sands, among others. Japan, to boost its tourism and economy, intends to allow integrated casino resorts in regional cities including Tokyo and Osaka. “Japan is the biggest…

Spy Ghana – Dr Charles Dwamena New Patriotic Party (NPP) Chairman of the Asia-Pacific Caucus NPP China, Japan and Korea alling for the recall of Ghana’s Ambassador to Japan, HE Edmound Kofi Agbenutse. According to him, the Ambassador’s conducts are public humiliation to Ghana. “According to the Tokyo Police and media reports, Ambassador Agbenutse who’s lavish livelihood is catered for by Ghanaian tax payers, has been using his position as the president’s representative to Japan to support illegal Baccarat gambling by making available his residence located at Tokyo’s Shibuya Ward to illegal Japanese Baccarat gamblers whiles providing these gamblers with…