Japan considers introducing online gaming

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party has started communicating with the some of the worlds’ largest online gambling operators to discuss casinos in Japan. The casino operators are sure that Japan has what it takes to be a successful destination: a large and relatively wealthy population, a responsible government, and people who are constantly looking for new forms of entertainment.

In Japan many forms of gambling are banned. There are no land based casinos and no online casinos operating out of Japan. Horse racing and the lottery are legal in Japan but these businesses don’t bring much revenue to the government coffers.

Casino operators are looking to Japan, which has the highest gross domestic product in Asia. The gross domestic product per capita of Japan exceeds that of the United States.
The population is estimated at over 128 million, making Japan a potential gold mine for online gambling entrepreneurs.

Reviewing the online gambling status of other Asian countries, the Japanese government is seeing that the introduction of online gambling and land based casinos to Macau and Singapore has boosted the tax revenues of those jurisdictions. Japan’s ailing tourist industry could also receive benefits from new casino operations in the country.

Although the legal, legislative process in Japan is very slow, the general consensus on legalizing casinos and online casinos is favorable. The Japanese government is hoping the casino market and online casinos will open up sometime after 2010.

The online casinos industry will be strictly controlled, and help will be there to solve potential problems associated with online gambling, the government has stated. Surely the Japanese people want to go beyond the Pachinko Parlours and motorcycle races and play real games of chance.