The Japanese House of Representatives recently passed a new bill that aims to completely ban the access and operation of online casino websites within the country. This move comes against the backdrop of increasingly prominent concerns about the harms of gambling nationwide.
The bill received strong support from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, although the opposition Constitutional Democratic Party cast votes against it, it still passed in the House of Representatives. Next, the bill will be submitted to the House of Councillors for review, and if it passes smoothly, it is expected to officially take effect in the coming weeks.
The core goal of this amended bill is to control the spread of gambling addiction. According to a survey in March this year, about 3.37 million Japanese residents have participated in online casino activities, with total expenditures reaching 1.24 trillion yen (approximately 8.7 billion US dollars). Although online gambling is already illegal under the law, the lack of specific measures to combat it has allowed the problem to continue to worsen.
As an auxiliary tool, the anti-gambling application BetBlocker has also launched a Japanese version to help users actively block gambling websites and reduce dependency behaviors.
This ban bill was first proposed in mid-May, after negotiations involving eight political parties and parliamentary groups. In addition to combating the operation and use of online casinos, the bill also specifically strengthens restrictions on related advertisements and hyperlinks.
The advancement of this legislation is based on data and recommendations provided by the Tokyo Gambling Addiction Care Association, reflecting Japan's increasingly serious attitude towards addressing gambling issues.
