{"id":19057,"date":"2021-06-16T14:15:58","date_gmt":"2021-06-16T14:15:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=19057"},"modified":"2026-04-23T18:32:02","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T21:32:02","slug":"japan-police-bust-illegal-casino-operating-as-casino-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/japan-police-bust-illegal-casino-operating-as-casino-school","title":{"rendered":"Japan: Police bust illegal casino operating as casino school"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Police in Tokyo have raided an illegal casino that was operating as a school for players training to play at Japan\u2019s future integrated resorts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Japan.- Police have busted a business in Tokyo they was found to be operating an illegal casino.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The <strong>&#8220;The International Casino Player Academy &#8221; <\/strong>presented itself as a casino school, but investigators found that it was actually a full-blown illegal casino that offered baccarat, poker and other games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Six people were arrested, including the venue&#8217;s manager<\/strong>. Police seized JPY3m (US$27,300) in cash.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The casino&#8217;s website said the business was <strong>a classroom in which you can gain know-how<\/strong> and <strong>learn how to win<\/strong>. IT presented casino play as an investment rather than gambling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The venue was located<strong> at a luxury apartment <\/strong>with a sale price of around JPY200m (US$1.8m).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Japan plans to <strong>allow three integrated resorts <\/strong>to open in the country in the coming years, although&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/japan-irs-only-two-likely-to-be-built-bill-hornbuckle-says\">Bill Hornbuckle<\/a>, MGM president and CEO, has said he believes Japan will only build two in the first round of development.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Hornbuckle said he thinks&nbsp;<strong>Nagasaki and Wakayama<\/strong>&nbsp;may not be able to meet the national government\u2019s requirements in terms of non-gaming facilities and other matters.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That would leave Osaka and Yokohama as the only contenders, resulting in Japan being able to launch just two instead of three IRs if both bids were approved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As for Yokohama, after withdrawing as a sole contender,&nbsp;<strong>Sega Sammy&nbsp;<\/strong>has announced that it has entered into a partnership with&nbsp;<strong>Genting Singapore<\/strong>&nbsp;to join its bid to build an&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/yokohama-sega-sammy-and-genting-partner-for-ir-bid\">integrated resort in Yokohama<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sega Sammy hailed&nbsp;<strong>Genting Singapore as the best possible partner for an integrated resort&nbsp;<\/strong>due to its successful Resorts World Sentosa operation in Singapore.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Genting Singapore said it will be leading the consortium of Japanese partners to create \u201c<strong>a world-class IR destination that is strategically positioned<\/strong>, sustainable and anchored on strong local collaborations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It said it is \u201cideally positioned to&nbsp;<strong>deliver an iconic IR to transform and grow Yokohama City&nbsp;<\/strong>to become a major tourist destination.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Police in Tokyo have raided an illegal casino that was operating as a school for players training to play at Japan\u2019s future integrated resorts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"This report details the enforcement action against an illicit gambling operation in Tokyo, masquerading as a training academy, underscoring the ongoing regulatory challenges in nascent iGaming markets. Concurrently, it highlights the evolving landscape of Japan's integrated resort (IR) development, with key industry players like MGM and Genting Singapore navigating complex licensing processes and strategic partnerships.","focusai_entities":"The International Casino Player Academy, MGM, Bill Hornbuckle, Sega Sammy, Genting Singapore, Resorts World Sentosa","focusai_location":"Japan, Tokyo, Nagasaki, Wakayama, Osaka, Yokohama, Singapore","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.95), regulator (0.98), compliance_legal (0.9), operator_casino (0.92), affiliate_publisher (0.7), marketing_crm (0.7), payments_fraud_aml (0.85), investor_analyst (0.97), supplier_vendor (0.88), journalist_researcher (0.95)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"IR Regulatory Impact?","query":"What are the long-term implications of this illegal casino bust on the regulatory scrutiny and public perception surrounding Japan's forthcoming integrated resort licensing process?"},{"label":"Yokohama IR Competition?","query":"How does the strategic partnership between Sega Sammy and Genting Singapore for the Yokohama IR bid alter the competitive landscape and projected economic impact for the region?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[16338,439],"tags":[23911,23632],"class_list":["post-19057","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-east-asia-news","category-legal-news","tag-gambling-regulation","tag-integrated-resorts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19057","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=19057"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19057\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19091,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19057\/revisions\/19091"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19057"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}