Paradoxical attitudes rule Japanese gambling legality

Both national and local Japanese government allows certain gambling entertainment under specific laws to boost the Japanese economy with public sports, lottery and Japanese-specific games. Operating casinos, however, remains illegal in Japan.

Of the public sports betting that is allowed in Japan, these sports include:  horse racing, bicycle racing, motorboat racing, auto racing and motorcycle racing. Of these public sports bets, all are regulated by special laws by the local government where a prize pool is awarded to gamblers, a sum total of sales at 75-80%. Ticket booths can be found in many Japanese cities such as Tokyo, Osaka, Yokohama and Nagoya.

The Japanese lottery is also a regular, annual occasion for Japanese gamblers to bet and wager with three main typed lotteries: unique number lotteries, selected number lotteries and scratch cards. Lottery tickets are sold at 100 to 500 yen and top cash prizes are generally 100 million yen or more for winners.

In regards to these Japanese lotteries, a Japanese law called the takarakuji law specifies that the entire prize pool for each lottery needs to be less than 50% of total sales with the remainder of profits going to local government organizations and charities. Tickets for these lotteries are bought and sold at special booths and stores in many Japanese cities including at some ATM machines.

As for a third category of Japanese gambling games, Pachinko is a hugely popular in Japan; this is a pinball-like slot machine game that is not considered illegal as it has historical, monetary and cultural significance. There are Pachinko parlors all over Japan that are privately-owned and -operated. All Pachinko players need to do to win is get their ball into a special hole to activate a jackpot. Players can then exchange winning balls at booths for special prizes; however, money is not awarded.

There are no legal casinos in existence for Japan at the moment, although Tokyo's ultra right-wing governor Shintaro Ishihara has been pushing them for years. If Governor Ishihara makes his mark along with other government officials who may come along to share his sentiments, before long Japan may quickly be on its way to erecting some of the first ever, Japanese-run casinos. In fact, many Japanese officials have already begun talks with some of the world’s biggest casino groups about opening the casino market and online casinos after 2010. Will next year be the year for Japan to make its first wager on legalizing gambling? We shall soon see.