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Japanese police have started to implement a recent amendment to gambling addiction law, with online gamblers, affiliates, social media influencers and website operators explicitly in the firing line.
The National Police Agency (NPA) has announced on its website that it is a crime to display online gambling content or post any information online that directs Japan-based users to casino websites, citing an amendment to the Basic Act on Countermeasures Against Gambling Addiction.
Only two, briefly worded amendments relating to criminal conduct were made to the Act on June 18, with no additional or revised penalties for such conduct. The amendments come into force on September 25.
Instead, and as predicted, it is the NPA that is fleshing out details of enforcement and prosecution to the public, relying on existing, archaic anti-gambling fines and jail terms, with the latter punishment largely untested in the courts.
The NPA statement warns that criminal acts now include launching and operating casino gambling websites, listing online casino apps in app stores, promoting or advertising casino websites (including via texting and social media), and creating and operating affiliate-style “summary” sites that list and recommend gambling websites.
“For example, acts of solicitation such as the wording ‘Click here to register for XYZ Casino’ or ‘XYZ Casino is Japanese-capable’ are prohibited," the NPA notes.
“Creating a site with a link to an online casino site, with wording such as “Ten Recommended Online Casinos”, is also prohibited.”
The statement adds that central and regional governments are now mandated to inform the public of the illegality of online gambling, though the enforcement ramifications, if any, that derive from this separate revision of the Act are unclear.
Central government campaign material carrying the police statement verbatim also clarifies that gambling-linked payments services and betting on sports overseas or on local events other than government-approved domestic codes are criminal acts.
On Thursday (July 17) the NPA also confirmed online gambling will be an enforcement target at its Internet Hotline Center, through which public tips on illegal online gambling operations will be collected and investigated.
However, the Internet Hotline Center is yet to update its landing pages in Japanese and English on the addition of online gambling to targeted criminal matters such as online fraud, drugs, prostitution, weapons possession and obscenity.
The NPA will use the information in part to request that internet service providers and SMS carriers delete gambling websites, promotional texts and other offending material, it said.
Meanwhile, police are increasing pressure on online gamblers themselves, with media accounts increasing of first-ever arrests of suspects by prefecture.
The latest reports include the arrest this month of a construction worker for allegedly gambling some ¥4m ($27,000) online, and the arrest of a former director of a nursing home for online gambling offences. Both men are in Mie Prefecture.
In Tokyo, two men were arrested by Kanagawa Prefecture police on July 17 after allegedly purchasing a tower apartment with profits from an online gambling operation.
