Japanese government decides casino tax

The ruling coalition of Japan announced a 30 per cent tax for casino resorts in local cities.

Japan.- The proposal of the ruling coalition Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito party regarding integrated resorts in Japan is to set a 30 per cent tax for casino operations and limit the number of legal venues to three. The highly-anticipated casinos would be able to be located in three different cities, according to the local press. Furthermore, the current legislation could be reviewed after the first seven years of legal casino operations in Japan.

The Integrated Resorts (IR) Implementation Bill is yet to be approved, but the Japanese government continues to look into the different requirements for operators and gamblers. The latest proposition involves demanding that companies report on customers who exchanged chips and cash worth €7,700 (¥1 million) or more as part of anti-money laundering measures.

All propositions are still to be debated at the Japanese Congress, but it’s still unclear when that will happen and – according to experts – Japan casinos may not open until 2026. Meanwhile, residents of Japan have shown strong opposition against integrated resorts as the project gets closer to final approval by Congress. An official poll revealed that 65.1 per cent of Japanese voters claimed to be against casino developments in the country, with only 26.6 per cent of residents voting in favour of the measure.