A new policy survey has revealed that around 3.37 million people in Japan are estimated to have used overseas online casinos.
The National Police Agency (NPA) has completed the study, with The Japan Times reporting that some 40% of the users were unaware that online casinos are illegal.
Online gambling in Japan has long been illegal, with the country forbidding this from taking place. It’s even illegal when the operator of the website is based overseas and in a location where it is legal.
The country has stringent gambling laws in general, too, with just a few exceptions like government-sanctioned lotteries, boat racing, horse racing, auto racing and velodrome cycling.
An NPA official is quoted as saying, “There is a possibility that a lack of awareness about illegality encourages people to use online casinos.”
Online casinos are illegal in Japan even if overseas
The annual amount of money found to have been spent on online casinos averaged around ¥630,000 per person ($4,253 USD).
According to the study, around 60% of respondents said that they knew of online casinos but only 4.6% said they had actually accessed them. Out of that percentage, three-quarters had gambled on the sites.
2% say they currently use online casinos, while 3.5% said they have used them in the past. Going by these statistics, it’s believed there could be an estimated 1.97 million active users of overseas online casinos in Japan.
Of those who had gambled using online casinos, the portion of people who were unaware of the illegality came to 39.8%.
The survey included 27,145 people, with respondents’ ages ranging from 15 to 79. It looked specifically at how online casinos, which are often blamed for causing addiction, are being used in Japan.
At the beginning of the month, it was reported that Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications couldexplore the possibility of blocking access to online casino websites.
Featured Image: Credit to Derrick Brutel on Flickr
