In an effort to try and stop the country’s residents from accessing illegal casinos, Japan looks to be imposing a new law that will make it more difficult.
This comes after a recent report suggested that illegally placed bets surpassed a whopping ¥1 trillion, just showing how much of a crackdown is needed by the nation.
This new law hopes to specifically prohibit opening and operation of online casinos in Japan while also ban any advertisements that lead to casino websites, including those from social media platforms.
While not submitted as of yet, it is expected that it will be put forward during the current Diet session, with the assumption that if successful, will be in effect immediately.
As for how this will be policed, it is a difficult task for the Japanese enforcement bodies, but there will be conversations and collaborations put in place with international companies to help with this.
Additionally, the bill also states that both central and local governments will be required to push the message through PR campaigns, stating that the usage of online casinos is illegal and those found using them will be punished.
If the bill does go through, it will also aid in the reduction of gambling addiction within the country which is currently a huge issue.
In terms of what kind of numbers we’re looking at here, it is suggested that approximately 1 in 5 young people are choosing to gamble instead of paying their bills.
Japanese authorities have also stated that the number of online gamblers in the country could be reaching over 3 million so this, in conjunction with the young person figure, just shows how much of a problem there is.
Hopefully the new aforementioned law does come into effect soon before the end of the month so that both illegal betting activity is quelled as much as possible, coupled with potentially helping those who are unfortunately battling a tough addiction to shake off.
