Tokyo – Japan passed a long-awaited bill to legalise casinos Thursday (Dec 15), Jiji Press reported, opening up a market seen as a potential global gaming powerhouse rivalling Asian titan Macau.
The controversial bill got through parliament in the early hours of Thursday morning despite a last-ditch opposition bid to stall it, after years of delays over worries about gambling addiction and organised crime.
Passage of the bill came on the last day of the current parliamentary session.
More legislation outlining details of so-called integrated resorts – which will feature hotel, retail, convention centre and entertainment venues including casinos – is required before any betting parlours can be built.
That makes it unlikely that Japan will have any in place before Tokyo hosts the 2020 Olympics.
But Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his party are rolling the dice on casinos, hoping they will support tourism after the games, and pump some life into the world’s number three economy.
Supporters have said casinos could bring huge investment, with some analysts envisaging a $30 billion market, in a challenge to Macau’s once high-rolling tables.
The former Portuguese colony has struggled to recover its footing after coming under pressure from Beijing to diversify away from gambling in 2014 as part of a corruption crackdown by China’s President Xi Jinping.
Japan has long been viewed as a massive gaming market due to its wealthy population, close proximity to China and appetite for other forms of legal gambling, including horse and boat racing.
Pachinko, a slot machine-style game played in thousands of smoky parlours in every corner of Japan, is a huge revenue generator. Winnings can be exchanged off-site for cash, skirting gaming laws.
Osaka, northernmost island Hokkaido, Tokyo and nearby Yokohama have all been cited as possible locations for major resorts.
But casinos do not have wide public support, largely due to concerns that betting parlours would aggravate crime and social problems.
Public broadcaster NHK released a survey this week that showed just 12 percent of respondents favoured scrapping the ban on casinos, while 44 percent were opposed and the rest uncertain.
The arrest of several professional baseball players for betting on their sport made headlines last year, while an Olympic badminton hopeful crashed out after admitting he gambled at an underground casino.
Some analysts are not sold on the idea either.
“The estimated economic impact is too optimistic, while the negative impact – including gambling addiction – has been understated,” said Yoichi Torihata, a professor of economics and gambling business expert at Japan’s Shizuoka University.
Japan would also have to differentiate itself to attract gamblers who have plenty of choices.
“The casino industry is already seeing excessive competition in Asia – there are casinos in Singapore, Macau, the Philippines, and South Korea” with plans to build in other Asian nations, said Makoto Yonekawa, senior consultant at Daiwa Institute of Research.
Japan’s main opposition Democratic Party as well as some members of Komeito, the ruling party’s junior coalition partner, oppose casinos.
On Wednesday, the opposition tried several moves, including a censure motion against Abe, but it ultimately failed to block the bill from becoming law.
A 2013 push to pass the bill was abandoned in the face of strong opposition.
