Japan: Casino Regulatory Commission hosts first meeting

The five members of the Casino Regulatory Commission from Japan held the first meeting on Friday and discussed operations’ rules.

Japan.- The Casino Regulatory Commission from Japan kicked off its first meeting on Friday, where it started discussions around the rules that will regulate operations in the casino industry in Japan. The meeting came a few weeks after a bribery scandal related to integrated resorts in the territory.

The commission, which is affiliated with the Cabinet Office, was established early last week and is set to work on drawing up regulations on resort operators as well.

Michio Kitamura, former chief of the Fukuoka High Public Prosecutor’s Office and head of the regulatory commission, said that the new body discussed rules to regulate casino operations. “The members of the commission and staff of its secretariat will unite and work with a sense of urgency to build trust with the public over casino business,” Kitamura said after the meeting.

The first meeting comes a few weeks after a former member of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party was arrested after being suspected of receiving bribes from a gambling operator from China. The former member, Tsukasa Akimoto, was one of the politicians pushing for casino resorts in Japan.

Kitamura said that he will supervise the staff at the secretariat so that the commission’s fairness and neutrality are not questioned.