Is Gambling Illegal In Japan

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Gambling laws in Japan Gambling in Japan is an activity deemed illegal according to Chapter 23 of Japan’s Criminal Code. However, not all forms of gambling are prohibited in the country. We clarify what forms of betting is legal in Japan and explain the current and future gambling laws. Why is gambling illegal in Japan? Posted by 1 month ago. Why is gambling illegal in Japan? Save hide report. Gambling is illegal in Japan. However, due to loopholes in the law and inconsistent policies, many forms of gambling are allowed to exist. Multiple government agencies are involved but none have legal responsibility for addressing the consequence of excessive gambling. The legal status of gambling in Japan At present, gambling remains largely illegal in Japan. The status of gambling has long been based on conservative and traditional social attitudes that look down on playing games of chance for money. From the onset, it must be clarified that under the Criminal Code, chapter 23, gambling in Japan is generally illegal. There are indeed a few exceptions, where players in Japan are given free reign to play to their heart’s content, but overall, gambling in Japan is not legal and is fully banned.

Last Updated: December 15, 2016 – Today, legislation passed to legalize land-based casinos in Japan; a huge victory for the country. Experts are predicting their casino gambling market to be a $40 billion. Their original goal was to get this passed in 2014 and have several casinos built before the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo to capitalize on the tourist boom that comes with such a large world-wide event. But, that did not happen and it’s too late for the casinos to be constructed in time for the Olympic Games.

Gambling and sport betting are both very popular in Japan, though only certain forms are lawful. Specifically, the forms authorized are lottery, scratch cards, pari-mutuel betting on horse racing, keirin (bicycle racing), powerboat racing (kyōtei), and autorace (motorcycles), and soccer toto wagers on J-League. All other forms are prohibited under Chapter 23 of the Japanese Penal Code. A huge population of Japanese people still bet, and they bet BIG, but they do it online primarily at Bet365.com. This site is known to take ‘frowned upon’ Asian bets, like from India.

While the penalties for unlawful betting are harsh, the law is rarely enforced. Nonetheless, a first offense for participating as a player is a petty fine not exceeding ¥500,000. Repeat offenders can be imprisoned up to 3-years.

To show an example of how the law is not enforced, I start this article by discussing pachinko. I then discuss online betting from Japan and finally conclude with vast details regarding of our many legal forms of gambling. The goal of this article is to be the most complete guide to Gambling in Japan.

Pachinko Gambling is Widespread

There are no legal casinos in Japan. However, what we do have is pachinko parlours. These are similar to arcade games found elsewhere in the world that are popular with adolescents playing games to win tickets and then redeeming them for prizes. Here by law you must be age 18+ to play and the machines are used strictly for gambling. The video below explains in English how pachinko works.

Places similar to the one showed in the video are available all over the country – to the tune of perhaps almost 15,000 pachinko parlours nationwide. These are allowed under the law as an amusement, but gambling on them is banned. Despite this, as shown in the video, the balls won are redeemable for prizes or tokens. Those redeeming tokens take them to an offsite location for cash payment.

Though gambling pachinko is illegal, how the system works is common knowledge and is mostly ignored by the police. According to Wikipedia Entry: Pachinko a parlour in Kanagawa prefecture had their tokens counterfeited and redeemed. Upon calling the police and admitting to having an illegal redemption centre, the police did nothing to the parlour and only worked to track the thief.

Pachinko gambling is a big money business. About 8-years ago (in 2005), the government estimated annual pachinko gambling volume had reached ¥29 trillion (US$378 billion). This is triple the amount of all legal gambling in Japan combined including lottery, horse racing, soccer toto and public sport. This should about tell you about what you need to know regarding our gambling law.

We have many underground casinos, local bookies and card games. Even with poker illegal, the Everest Poker Japan Cup was held here n 2007, and the All-Japan Poker Championship was co-organized by a local newspaper. Online gambling is also widespread. The laws are on the books, but little is done to go after casual gamblers. In the rare times action is taken, it is only a petty fine for the first offense.

Online Betting in Japan

The Japanese government allows online betting for lottery, soccer toto, and public sport. However, this is only for pari-mutuel betting with the official channels. For those interesting in betting fixed odds, making in-play wagers, or playing casino, poker or bingo this is possible using foreign betting sites. For example, at www.bet365.com it is possible to open an account using a Japanese home address. You can also keep your account balance in Japanese Yen. From this website you can wager sports, horse races, online poker, casino and bingo and much more.

For sports betting, the wagering options are many. Bet365 offers betting on nearly every sports league and sport played around the world. This includes Japanese sports. Odds on J-League (J1), J-League division 2 (J2), Nabisco Cup, Emperors Cup and Super Cup soccer are available. You can also find NPB baseball betting and even JB League and JBL League basketball.

The one sport they don’t cover enough of is Japanese volleyball. If you are interested in betting Japan V-Premiere League or any competition our national team participates in I suggest www.bwin.com. They as well as William Hill, Blue Square, and countless other UK based companies have online betting in Japanese Yen (JPY).

These gambling sites clearly display the available deposit and withdrawal options for Japan. It is possible to deposit in Japanese yen (JPY) using your VISA, MasterCard credit card or VISA Electron debit card via the online e-wallet Skrill. Other e-wallets supported in Japan include NETELLER, EntroPay, and Click2Pay.

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Check all the info needed on online gambling in Japan. Is Online Gambling Legal in Japan?

Introduction
Often times casino online game players are met with very many rules and regulations that tend to get in the way of their epic game time moments.

When it comes to casino online game players that find themselves in Japan, there are a few legalities that these players need to take into consideration.

From the onset, it must be clarified that under the Criminal Code, chapter 23, gambling in Japan is generally illegal. There are indeed a few exceptions, where players in Japan are given free reign to play to their heart’s content, but overall, gambling in Japan is not legal and is fully banned.

Having said that, casino online players are quite innovative and seem to be able to find loopholes when it most matters, therefore any ardent casino online game player seeking to put some hours in on their favourite casino online slot game is able to do so, even if playing in Japan. We’ll discuss how this is made possible below, simply put, even in the far reaches of Japan, casino online players are able to find a way to get their fun & games on.

Is it legal to gamble online in Japan?
As mentioned above, casino online gambling, and actually gambling, in general, is not legal in Japan. Under the Criminal Code, chapter 23, the generalised practice of gambling, in a land-based casino and via online casino gambling sites is banned, and not supported by any regulatory boards in Japan.

However, there are a few exceptions to the rule, where a few gaming enterprises are altogether accepted and legal to take part in, provided they fall under the following categories:

Horse racing
Motorsports racing
Bicycle racing
Motorboat racing

The above types of races allow for gambling to take place around these activities, and are the exception to the Criminal Code chapter 23 law.

There is also an exception to certain gambling games, where they are legal and playing them is encouraged, as it is considered to be amusement and not gambling. The games in question happen to the be the following:

Mahjong
Pachinko
Lottery games

When a Japanese player takes part in any of the above-mentioned activities or sports and decides to place a bet or wager on the outcome, there is no further legal repercussions or ramifications associated as these games are altogether legal to play.

Tell me more
Although casino online gambling is at present considered an illegal practice in Japan, there have been petitions and bills drafted by certain individuals, who would like to see the casino online gambling industry ban be lifted in Japan, and accordingly, there has been a bill drafted in April 2013, requesting the legalisation of land-based casinos in Japan.

As of yet this bill is still on the medium-term agenda of Japan’s government’s radar and appears to have quite a bit of political support in favour of passing this bill. Should this bill be passed, it will, of course, only have positive implications for the world of casino online gambling as well – but until that happens, online casino game players will have to continue forfeiting their right to play their casino online slot game while in Japan.

The other alternative, however, is for the casino online game player is to log in to an offshore online casino that accepts players from Japan, and continue to play their hand at the various casino online game titles available to them from that particular online casino brand. This is indeed a viable option for casino online game player in Japan, as the government has not placed a ban on offshore online casinos catering for the players in Japan. There is also no record of any casino online player from Japan being prosecuted for playing via an offshore casino online gambling site.

So, as is quite plain to see from the above-mentioned factors, it is quite clear that although Japan has banned online poker and internet casino gameplay within their jurisdiction, there is still a light at the end of the gaming tunnel, so to speak, as casino online players are still able to access their favourite casino online gaming titles via the use of an offshore gaming portal.

Is Sports Betting Illegal In Japan

Conclusion
Playing at an online casino in Japan is not overly done, and even given the largely populated underground gambling circles in Japan, there is still an unwritten rule that casino online game players know very well when playing in Japan.

There is a loophole that many a casino online game player will choose to frequent, in lieu of grabbing that opportunity to play a casino online game title; and that loophole entails making use of an offshore casino online gambling site. Usually the offshore casino online gambling site will have a casino online gambling licence issued from Macau, which means that the casino online gambling site in question may tend to operate from the Macau shores, in which case it is still quite legal for casino online game players to access and play their favourite casino online game titles, from this type of offshore casino online gaming site.

It is always important to follow the rules and laws of the land, and of course, there is no way shape or form that illegal casino online gameplay practices are condoned by us, which is why the fact that offshore casino online gameplay is not a practice banned by the Japanese government.