{"id":17212,"date":"2021-04-26T15:49:20","date_gmt":"2021-04-26T15:49:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=17212"},"modified":"2026-04-23T20:05:29","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T23:05:29","slug":"japan-pachinko-parlours-suspend-business-until-may-11","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/japan-pachinko-parlours-suspend-business-until-may-11","title":{"rendered":"Japan: Pachinko parlours suspend business until May 11"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto and Hyogo prefectures have ordered the suspension of Pachinko parlours until at least May 11 due to a rise in Covid-19 cases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p>Japan.-&nbsp;<strong>Pachinko parlours&nbsp;<\/strong>are going through one of the worst crises in their history. While the&nbsp;<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/japan-the-number-of-pachinko-parlours-continues-to-fall\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">number of pachinko parlours<\/a><strong>&nbsp;<\/strong>continues to fall, the government has asked pachinko businesses to&nbsp;<strong>close their doors again until May 11<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For now, the measure affects in\u00a0<strong>Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto and Hyogo<\/strong> but could be extended to other cities if Covid-19 cases continue to rise\u00a0<strong>amid a fourth wave of the pandemic<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to local media,\u00a0<strong>Yuriko Koike<\/strong>, Tokyo&#8217;s governor, has asked smaller businesses, including <strong>pachinko parlours to close and turn off neon signs after 8pm to discourage people from going out at night<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Unlike previous months, this time&nbsp;<strong>the government could apply fines<\/strong>&nbsp;if pachinko parlours do not follow the rules.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Last March, the government asked <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/japon-government-pachinko-gaming\">pachinko parlours to undertake voluntary closures<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The industry has seen <\/strong><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/japans-pachinko-sales-down-31-7-in-june\">sales fall<\/a> and several venues close permanently. Aside from the Covid-19 cases, there is<strong>\u00a0uncertainty over tighter regulations from the government<\/strong>\u00a0to stop organised crime in the industry.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto and Hyogo prefectures have ordered the suspension of Pachinko parlours until at least May 11 due to a rise in Covid-19 cases.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":17238,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"Japanese prefectures, including Tokyo and Osaka, have mandated the temporary suspension of Pachinko parlours until May 11 due to rising COVID-19 cases, with potential fines for non-compliance. This directive exacerbates an already challenging period for the Pachinko sector, marked by declining venues, falling sales, and looming regulatory scrutiny concerning organized crime.","focusai_entities":"Yuriko Koike","focusai_location":"Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Hyogo, Japan","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (0.9), operator_casino (1.0), investor_analyst (0.9), supplier_vendor (0.7), journalist_researcher (0.9)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Impact on GGR","query":"What is the projected GGR impact on the Japanese Pachinko sector from these mandated closures, and how does this affect the long-term market valuation?"},{"label":"Regulatory Enforcement","query":"How will the Japanese government's enforcement of fines for non-compliance set a precedent for future regulatory actions within the broader iGaming and land-based sectors?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[16338,23876],"tags":[23909],"class_list":["post-17212","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-east-asia-news","category-social-news","tag-slot-games"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17212","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=17212"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17212\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17243,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17212\/revisions\/17243"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17212"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17212"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17212"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}