{"id":777001972,"date":"2023-02-01T13:19:11","date_gmt":"2023-02-01T16:19:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777001972"},"modified":"2026-04-23T01:02:32","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T04:02:32","slug":"japan-8-arrested-for-illegal-gambling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/japan-8-arrested-for-illegal-gambling","title":{"rendered":"Japan: 8 arrested for illegal gambling"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Police say the operation had generated over JPY48bn in revenue since 2005.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p>Japan.- Eight people have been arrested by <strong>Tokyo police <\/strong>for allegedly running an illegal gambling operation in a room located in the city&#8217;s Kabukicho entertainment district. The ringleader, a 44-year-old man named Hiroshi Hitomi, has admitted the charges.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Authorities conducted a search for evidence on Monday (January 30). According to sources close to the investigation, the illegal operation had generated over JPY48bn in revenue since it began in 2005.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to Nippon, police believe the operation may have served as a source of funding for organised crime. The operation offered 24\/7 online gambling services, with 70 to 80 customers visiting daily, making it one of the largest of its kind in Japan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Gambling in Japan is heavily regulated and only permitted in certain forms as horse racing, motorcycle racing, and boat racing. The country plans to liberalise land-based gaming with the launch of integrated resorts to boost tourism. The&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/japan-still-no-news-on-osaka-and-nagasaki-ir-bids\" target=\"_blank\">two contenders for licences<\/a> for now are&nbsp;<strong>Osaka&nbsp;<\/strong>and&nbsp;<strong>Nagasaki<\/strong>. They have <strong>submitted IR District Development Plans&nbsp;<\/strong>approved by their city councils and prefectural assemblies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Police say the operation had generated over JPY48bn in revenue since 2005.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":26852,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"Tokyo police have dismantled a significant illegal online gambling operation in Kabukicho, generating JPY48bn since 2005 and potentially funding organised crime. This incident underscores the persistent challenges of illicit gaming within heavily regulated markets, even as Japan progresses with its Integrated Resort (IR) liberalisation plans in Osaka and Nagasaki.","focusai_entities":"Hiroshi Hitomi, Nippon","focusai_location":"Japan, Tokyo, Kabukicho, Osaka, Nagasaki","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (0.9), operator_casino (0.85), payments_fraud_aml (0.8), investor_analyst (0.85), supplier_vendor (0.7), journalist_researcher (0.95)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"IR Market Impact","query":"How might the continued prevalence of large-scale illegal gambling operations in Japan influence the regulatory stringency and operational frameworks for the forthcoming Integrated Resorts in Osaka and Nagasaki?"},{"label":"Enforcement Efficacy","query":"What specific enhancements to regulatory enforcement and cross-agency collaboration are being considered by Japanese authorities to more effectively combat the significant GGR generated by illicit online gambling operations?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[16338,439],"tags":[23911],"class_list":["post-777001972","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-east-asia-news","category-legal-news","tag-gambling-regulation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777001972","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=777001972"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777001972\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777001990,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777001972\/revisions\/777001990"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26852"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777001972"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777001972"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777001972"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}