Casino bill clears panel, paving way to legalize gambling

Was there ever any doubt? There must have been some massive brown envelopes passed before this

Vocal criticism of the bill from both the ruling coalition and opposition parties had centered on concerns about gambling-related social ills such as addiction and organised crime.

Addiction is down to education and sensible controls implemented at point of gambling. Organised crime is down to strict regulation and actually enforcing it. Put the criminals in gaol and they are no longer a problem. And how much unregulated/illegal gambling goes on anyway? People will gamble regardless so decriminalise it, regulate it and tax it.

legalized casinos in Japan, a market that brokerage CLSA estimates could be worth up to $40 billion a year.

A reverse Robyn Hood story. Stealing from the poor to give to the rich. It just shows how desperate Japan is to rebuild its economy by turning to gambling. They are already gambling the pension fund on the stock market.

Japan would have been better off legalizing weed than casino gambling. At least it would keep the people chilled out AND bring in a ton of tax revenue as well!

we dont close eateries becasue of overeating. addiction is a bad reason not to pass it

englisc aspyrgend: "Addiction is down to education and sensible controls implemented at point of gambling. Organised crime is down to strict regulation and actually enforcing it."

Won't happen. The government doesn't care about those things. What it cares about are reputation and money. Japan is jealous of Singapore, Macau, and now South Korea, and it sees massive income by doing this, so they jam it through; doesn't need the years of discussion issues they are against do. Just, boom! Who cares if addicts will lose everything and society will morally decay?

My concern is the people struggling already on low salaries for long hours, with worries about being in a position to have a family and so on will be attracted to a chance and will end up even worse off.. Perhaps though on the plus side maybe it will get some of the stacks of money some older people tend to have back in the economy.

Tax on Pachinko.

Those Pachinko Parlors look miserable and so are those who are in them.

People gamble already. What will change because of casinos?

@sense:If you want to lis they use brave, stop writing envelope. Update 250 yrs at least.

MGM always loved rich people to be their gambling customers.

I wish they would build these casino resorts in the countryside where population decline is a problem.

In the US, they've been built them on indian reservations and have they've brought in a lot of money and jobs to the local area.

Japan's depopulated problem areas can really be helped out here (if they want the casino resorts) if the national government would just think outside the "Tokyo and the giant hub cities are the only places of importance" mindset.

So... .will I be able to in on this and open up my own gambling establishment. Or... yappari its only going to be two or three people who greased all the right palms and they will be the only ones who can make the casinos and rake in all the cash, same way Pachinko is now. 90% of it is run by about 3 families.

LDP and Abe PM showing what count for them !

@Robert: MGM has many high rise hotels in Vegas. It spend about $25 billion each for construction. Hotels here usually have at least three levels of casinos.several thousands employees on each casinos. I think zJapan has eyes on rich Chinese, Koreans, and Russian oil tycoons. Tokyo. MGM is a movie company, too.

Amazing how quickly these bills can get passed if it benefits the government isn't it, while anything that would benefit the general population sits well on the back burner. Bloody crooks.

"Legalize gambling"?? It is already legal thru lottery and horses and bicycles and boats and others I probably don't even know about. any way of raising more taxes and keeping this money in Japan can't be an altogether bad thing.

I still think that Pachinko is just as bad if not worse than casino gambling, because it is seen as a game or a way to kill time, which makes it all that much easier to get caught up in. I predict there will only be a few casinos, in or around Tokyo, Osaka, and Okinawa. The average Taro will never get a chance to get there, and throw away their money. But they will still be able to go to the corner pachinko shop and throw it away there!

Casinos?

70 years of virtual one-party rule from the LDP and casinos are the best idea they have to revitalise dying Japan? Pathetic, truly embarrassing.

Please watch God of Gambler part 1 to 3. Then u go Casino. Thank you.

One cannot stop gambler from going to oversea casino, so it is best every countries have one casino.

Good buy Japan.

Go Casino go.If Pachinkos go into the gutters.Right behind my home,there is a big Pachinko parlor, few times a week , 10 in the morning,there are some special events when hundreds of people line up, most of them smoking.Apart from that announcements on the speaker are so annoying.

It is Casino legalization. Pachinko are not used in Casnos. Game in Nevada mean gambling that anyone can compute probability of each winning hand. There are enough video gambling machines that pachinko business have to watch out. Tokyo now. I doubt other places. Tokyo has other attractions to entice rich Asian foreigners.