Japan Plans to Fight Gambling Addiction as Casinos Open

On Friday 19, March 2019, the Cabinet of Japan approved a plan that seeks to limit consumer access and the ban of the installation of cash machines at betting establishments. This is part of the Japanese government’s bid to curtail problem gambling ahead of the opening of a number of casino facilities. To see this plan through, prefectures in the nation will be required to formulate their own efforts based on the government’s planthe authorities will also be required to take action under the basic law measures against addiction that were enacted in October last year.

According to Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, the goal is to create a healthy society through the implementation of “measures based on the basic plan in order to prevent people from finding themselves in difficult situations”.

The Country’s Casino Plans

Some of the major areas of focus for the Japanese government as the country prepares to usher in its first three casinos has been the issue of responsible gambling. Some of the ways that the government has been employing to solve this problem has been by clearly outlining some very stringent advertising policies for casino gambling. To put this into perspective, casino ads in the country will only be allowed within integrated resorts as well as at immigration areas including seaports and airports. This is mainly because the casino projects are mainly geared towards attracting tourists in a bid to boost regional economies.

Japan will be establishing casinos in up to three locations as part of the “integrated resorts” plans that aim to bring a hotel, conference facilities, as well as shopping areas in each of the three locations by mid next year. However, some things are being excluded from the casino facilities. For instance, under the basic pans covering three years from fiscal 2019, the operators of slot machine and pachinko parlors and government-operated gambling venues, including horse racing and keirin cycle racing tracks will not be allowed to have cash machines at the gaming facilities.

In addition to having the cash machines removed, the venues mentioned above have also been asked to extensively research on what ID check system can be used to effectively bar underage and problem gamblers from entering the venues. Moreover, the plan also seeks to have warnings about gambling addiction posted in adverts in newspapers, TV commercials as well as magazines. Restrictions will also be imposed on the value of the online bets that the gamblers will be allowed to place on horse races and other sporting events.

Treatment Hubs

Naturally, there will be a need for gambling addiction treatment hubs and these are, thankfully, also part of the gaming plans – following extensive consultation, the treatment hubs will be set up in each of the 47 Japanese prefectures as well as in 20 major cities across the country. Private organizations running gambling addiction recovery programs will also be given enhanced support as part of the plans to curb the issue of gaming-related harm.