{"id":17069,"date":"2021-04-21T16:13:51","date_gmt":"2021-04-21T16:13:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=17069"},"modified":"2026-04-23T20:12:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T23:12:16","slug":"japan-the-number-of-pachinko-parlours-continues-to-fall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/japan-the-number-of-pachinko-parlours-continues-to-fall","title":{"rendered":"Japan: the number of pachinko parlours continues to fall"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Japan saw more than 100 pachinko parlours close in March as the industry continues to suffer the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Japan.- Pachinko parlours continue to disappear.<\/strong> According to Japanese media, in March the regular monthly survey of\u00a0All Japan Amusement Business Cooperative Association<\/strong>\u00a0reported that the number of\u00a0pachinko parlours had fallen by 111\u00a0<\/strong>compared to the previous month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2020, the number of\u00a0active pachinko halls fell by 584 to 8,302<\/a>, a 7 per cent decrease year-on-year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The All Japan Amusement Business Cooperative Association said\u00a0the number of pachinko machines at its member stores was 2,187,288 in March<\/strong>, a decrease of 31,568 from the previous month.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the first months of the year 2021, pachinko parlour revenues<\/strong> reached nearly\u00a075 per cent of the pre-pandemic levels<\/a>,\u00a0but the outlook is uncertain due to a possible new wave of Covid-19 cases and tighter regulations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rise and fall of the pachinko parlors in Japan<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The pachinko industry began in the 1920s\u00a0with a children’s toy called the “Corinth Game”<\/strong>. A few years later the game arrived in Japan and appeared in candy stores.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Japanese children used to play with these machines, winning candy or fruits if they reached a high score<\/strong>. They started to call them “Pachi-Pachi”, which means the\u00a0clicking of small objects<\/strong>\u00a0in a reference to the sounds the machines made.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adults quickly began to show interest in the game and started to play for a chance to win different prizes. The emerging pachinko parlours were closed during World War II but returned in the late 1940s<\/strong>\u00a0and gained popularity throughout Japan.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pachinko games\u00a0maintained their high popularity well into the 21st century<\/strong>\u00a0by incorporating new models with more electronic features, but interest began to decline due to the development of online games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The trend for young people to play mobile games instead of going to a pachinko parlour\u00a0<\/strong>has been accentuated during increased confinement due to the Covid-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Japan saw more than 100 pachinko parlours close in March as the industry continues to suffer the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":17070,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"The Japanese pachinko industry continues its contraction, with over 100 parlours closing in March and a 7% year-on-year decrease in active halls in 2020. While early 2021 revenues recovered to 75% of pre-pandemic levels, the sector faces an uncertain outlook due to potential new COVID-19 waves, tighter regulations, and sustained competition from online and mobile gaming verticals. This trend highlights a significant shift in consumer gaming preferences and operational challenges for land-based entertainment.","focusai_entities":"All Japan Amusement Business Cooperative Association","focusai_location":"Japan","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (0.85), compliance_legal (0.7), operator_casino (0.9), investor_analyst (0.95), supplier_vendor (0.8), journalist_researcher (0.9)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Pachinko Market Outlook","query":"What specific regulatory changes are anticipated in the Japanese pachinko sector, and how might these further impact operational viability and market consolidation?"},{"label":"Digital Gaming Impact","query":"To what extent is the decline in land-based pachinko attributable to the growth of regulated or unregulated online gaming verticals in Japan, and what are the implications for future market structure?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[157,16338,158],"tags":[23909],"class_list":["post-17069","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-news","category-east-asia-news","category-slider-home","tag-slot-games"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17069","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/176"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17069"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17069\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17100,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17069\/revisions\/17100"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17070"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}