Spotlight: New Japanese law legalizing casino gambling takes effect amid controversy, concerns

A new law making casino gambling legal came into effect on Monday, after the ruling coalition led by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe successfully pushed the controversial bill and related legislation through both chambers of parliament amid staunch political and public opposition.

The new law will now make it possible for the government to forge ahead with its plans to enhance revenue from tourism by building integrated resort (IR) facilities, combining shopping malls, large conference halls and other entertainment facilities, in the same establishments as the casinos.

Japanese law had previously banned casinos, but gambling in other forms is permitted such as at pachinko parlors (by way of a payout loophole) and on horse racing and motorboat races. National lotteries, and "toto" betting (football pools) are also permitted under special legal provisions.

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) coalition, however, was forced to shoot down, by using its vast majority in parliament, attempts by the opposition camp to stall the controversial casino bill passing the lower house.

Those going against the bill included the main opposition Democratic Party, Japanese Communist Party, Liberal Party and Social Democratic Party, agreeing to submit a no-confidence motion against the Cabinet of Abe in the lower house on Dec. 14.

Separately, the Democratic Party submitted a censure motion against the prime minister in the upper house.

Democratic Party leader Renho said the casino bill threatens the "dignity of the legislature" and thus her party wanted to find a way to see it scrapped.

However it was passed in the 11th hour in the upper caucus of Japan's bicameral system of parliament on Dec. 14. Other related bills had been "steamrolled" through both chambers against the will of the public.

The bill initially cleared the lower house on Dec. 6 amid calls from the opposition collectively that it had been forced thorough by the ruling bloc.

The move was reminiscent of the steamrolled passage through both caucuses and into law by Abe and his administration of the controversial security legislation.

The bill has, albeit unconstitutionally, expanded both the geographical and operational scope of Japan's Self-Defense Forces.

The law to legalize casino gambling coming into force will now see the Abe-led government put together additional legalization for the implementation of the casinos, with the current law containing clauses prompting the government to, within one year, create legal provisions to deal with problems connected to the casinos.

Concerns casino gambling will lead to a rise in gambling addiction are now rife in the country. Noriko Tanaka, president of the Society Concerned About the Gambling Addiction, a Tokyo-based nonprofit group, currently informed both society and the government of the potential dangers.

"Politicians claim they are concerned about a rise in gambling addicts. But the current bill is insufficient in resolving those problems and needs to be revised," Tanaka, whose group has conducted nationwide seminars and advised political parties on the matter, said recently.

"The Diet needs to have a discussion about a robust campaign to prevent gambling addiction," Tanaka said, with reference to the nation's more than 5 million gambling addicts, and rising incidents of gambling-related crime.

"Despite being referred to as 'a gambling superpower', Japan is said to be lagging behind other countries by 10 to 30 years in taking action about gambling addiction...," a statement on Tanaka's website reads.

Abe's ruling bloc believes, however, that the opening of new casinos will be capable of generating revenue well beyond the uptick expected from tourism related to the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics in 2020, although it would be highly unlikely that any casinos will be operational before the Olympics.

The integrated resorts could generate revenue of up to 30 billion U.S. dollars, according to estimates, rivaling gambling meccas like Las Vegas and Macao, and could be a vital source of revenue for Japan's flagging economy.

But further related bills still need to be ratified in the Diet against decades of political and social opposition that saw the bills finally shut down by the opposition in 2013.

Opposition parties and the public have, for the longest time, been vehement about the casinos' potential negative effects on society, with gambling addiction often cited as a possible harmful byproduct, along with organized crime.

The major cities of Tokyo, Yokohama and Osaka, have all been slated as possible locations for the casino resorts, but the public remain perturbed as reflected in an editorial on the matter carried in a major daily recently stating that: "Gamblers' losses are what makes the casinos money. It's truly unhealthy to build a growth strategy on exploiting others people's misfortune and bad luck."

The ruling coalition itself has found little public support for the casinos, with a survey taken by Japan's public broadcaster NHK revealing that a mere 12 percent of respondents were in favor of scrapping the former ban on casinos, while 44 percent were opposed.

The rest, according to NHK, were undecided, with the figures underscoring the opposition camp's claims of the "steamrolling" of the casino bill by the ruling bloc to allow the new law to be enacted Monday. Endit