#Akimoto

WAKAYAMA, Japan (Kyodo) -- The assembly of a western Japan prefecture on Wednesday voted down a bid by its government to host a casino resort, leaving now only two other candidate sites and dealing a further blow to the country's plan to stimulate the economy through the gambling industry. The rejection by the Wakayama prefectural assembly is the…

The focus of Japan's quest to open its first casino is a human-made island in Osaka that, if the city's government gets its way, will end decades of wrangling over the country's fraught relationship with poker tables and slot machines. On a recent weekday morning there was little to suggest that Yumeshima - "Dream Island" - could, by the end of the…

TOKYO (AP) - A Tokyo court on Tuesday sentenced to four years in prison a former top government official for taking bribes from a gambling company, in a high-profile case that has added to the political woes of Japan's outgoing prime minister ahead of elections this year. The Tokyo District Court found Tsukasa Akimoto, who was a vice-minister in…