Japan eyes tougher regulations on online casinos

The Liberal Democratic Party was to hold a meeting on Thursday afternoon of its research commission on public safety, counterterrorism and cybercrime measures, which is chaired by House of Representatives member Sanae Takaichi. The party is considering amending the basic law on measures against gambling addiction, as well as prohibiting internet businesses operators from luring people to online casino sites or apps.

After confirming the policy within the party, the LDP will call for other political parties to approve it so the law can be amended during the current Diet session.

In September last year, the government launched a liaison meeting for related ministries and agencies, including the National Police Agency, the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry and the Financial Services Agency, to work in earnest on measures against online casinos.

The ministry is planning to start discussions with experts on effective deterrence to the problem, such as blocking access to online casinos. “We’d like to get on with the proceedings so that we can start looking into the matter promptly,” said the director general of the ministry’s Telecommunications Business Department on Feb. 28, during a meeting of a subcommittee of the lower house Budget Committee.

The government aims to revise its basic plan for promoting measures against gambling addiction by the end of this fiscal year. The revisions will include stipulating that credit card companies will be asked to stop payments in certain situations, and promoting the wider use of content filtering technology to prevent minors from accessing specific websites.

The government will also work on placing internet ads to widely publicize that it is illegal to access or use online casinos in Japan even if they are legal overseas.