Japan asks 8 jurisdictions to block online casino access for its citizens
The country has made formal requests for help to control access to online casinos, which are not regulated in Japan.
Japan.- Eight countries and regions have been asked to block Japanese users from accessing foreign-licensed online casino websites. The Japanese government has made the formal requests to Canada, Costa Rica, Georgia, Malta, the Isle of Man (UK), Gibraltar, Curaçao and Anjouan Island in the Comoros.
It’s estimated that 70 per cent of 40 Japanese-language casino sites identified in a recent government investigation are licensed in Curaçao, and only two explicitly prohibited access from Japan. In at least six cases, all user traffic originated from Japan.
Japanese law allows only limited forms of betting such as lotteries and government-regulated races (a land-based casino is in construction), but authorities estimate that more than 3 million people make annual wagers exceeding ¥1.24tn ($USD 8.6bn) on sites unregulated in the country.
A legal amendment that would ban the promotion of online casinos is expected to pass the upper house this month. It would require social media companies to remove gambling-related promotions.
