The Japanese government legalized casino gambling last December after a prolonged discussion process. Lawmakers are now vested with the responsible task to craft a second legislative piece that will set the rules under which the country’s gambling industry will be managed.
Work on the so-called Implementation Bill has already begun and officials are expected to introduce it and vote it into a law this fall. The bill is supposed to contain information on how many integrated resorts with casinos will be constructed and where in the country these will be constructed. Most importantly, the legislative piece will encompass rules and regulations for the profitable, responsible, and crime-free provision of casino gaming services to both Japanese nationals and visitors of the Pacific Ocean island nation.
A specially summoned panel of lawmakers, industry insiders, and scholars has recently presented to the Diet a set of recommendations on what Japan’s casino laws should probably include.
What We Know about the Future of Japan’s Casino Industry
Under original proposals, the Diet will approve the construction of two integrated resorts that would include multiple food and beverage, entertainment, shopping, accommodation, and convention facilities, as well as casino floors. However, it has recently become known that the casinos would probably occupy only a 15,000-square-meter portion of each of the two resorts. The floor limit was proposed by the panel, so as for the excessive proliferation of casino gambling among Japanese residents to be prevented.
There will also be limits imposed on the number of times Japanese nationals would be allowed to visit casinos. What is more, domestic customers will be asked to present their My Number cards upon entering a casino.
The gambling venues would only admit customers aged 20 and over, even if the age of adulthood drops to 18 from 20 in Japan. Lawmakers are set to present a bill on the age matter during the Diet’s extraordinary legislative session this fall. The casino panel has proposed the age limit in a bid for young members of the population to be spared from excessive gambling.
Another proposal reads that games of chance only should be allowed at the country’s casino floors. In other words, poker, a game of immense popularity in Asia and the rest of the world, could be prohibited from being offered at Japanese casinos. Reports have recently emerged that there were poker proponents among panel members who had called for the addition of poker to the list of games allowed. It is yet to be seen whether such a possibility would be considered by lawmakers.
As mentioned above, the Implementation Bill is set to be introduced this fall during the extraordinary session. However, even if the bill is voted into law by the end of the year, it will probably be not before the early 2020s when first casinos open doors in Japan.
