Group calls for stronger safeguards before new casinos in Japan
Japan should not approve any new integrated resorts (IRs) until it has a properly funded and independent gambling harm prevention system in place, according to Noriko Tanaka, Representative Director of The Society Concerned about Gambling Addiction (SCGA). Tanaka’s comments come as Hokkaido is debating whether to pursue an IR with a casino.
Speaking exclusively to SiGMA News after the prefecture’s latest IR expert panel meeting, Tanaka argued that Japan’s current gambling framework has failed to keep pace with the country’s changing gambling landscape.
“Unless the necessary infrastructure encompassing people, resources and funding for prevention and support is fully established, we remain opposed to opening new casinos,” Tanaka stressed.
Japan’s next IR application window is set to open in 2027. In mid-July, Hokkaido held its fifth IR expert panel meeting in which responsible gambling emerged as a central topic alongside discussions of the prefecture’s proposed IR policy framework and development concept. The panel also examined Singapore’s gambling model, which is often cited as a benchmark for casino regulation in Asia.
Promises must be fulfilled
For Tanaka, however, the conversation should not begin with how Japan can build new casinos. Instead, she believes the focus should be on whether the country has fulfilled the responsible gambling safeguards promised when casino legislation was approved in 2018.
“The damage caused by gambling addiction in Japan has reached a level that can no longer be ignored, and the promises made to strengthen gambling addiction measures when casino licensing was approved in 2018 have completely failed to be delivered,” she said.
“As Hokkaido considers moving forward with an IR bid, the phase of merely promoting ‘economic benefits’ is over.”
-Noriko Tanaka, Representative Director, SCGA
Tanaka added that Japan is now facing a surge in illegal online casinos, multiple debts among gamblers and loan shark exploitation among younger people in their 20s and 30s, alongside an increase in gambling-related crime and suicides.
“According to our organisation’s survey, the average debt per addicted individual has exceeded 10 million yen ($62,230), becoming a major social issue,” she said. “There is a growing consensus that effective countermeasures to prevent and reduce gambling harm are absolutely essential.”
Singapore IR model offers lessons
Singapore is often viewed as one of Asia’s strongest examples of responsible gambling regulation. Its National Council on Problem Gambling (NCPG) oversees measures such as self-exclusion, family exclusion and casino visit limits, while the government also enforces strict advertising rules and closely monitors gambling-related harm.
While Singapore is often presented as a model, Tanaka argued that Japan should focus less on copying another country’s framework and more on implementing the reforms it has already committed to.
“When the IR Bill passed in 2018, politicians promised to establish a strong independent body similar to NCPG and implement a strict exclusion system. Those promises remain completely unfulfilled,” she said.
She noted that Japan faces a much larger and more complex gambling environment than Singapore, with pachinko, public betting and illegal online casinos already deeply embedded in society.
“Just like the UK in 2025, Japan must mandate a statutory levy on operators based on their revenues, establishing an independent fund dedicated solely to addiction measures on the scale of tens of billions of yen annually,” Tanaka said. “We must not rely on general tax revenues or unpredictable annual budget allocations.”
Shifting opinion on IR policy?
According to Tanaka, public attitudes have also shifted since Japan’s first IR application round in 2019. Osaka, home to MGM Osaka, Japan’s first approved integrated resort, has become the country’s biggest test case for casino regulation. The JPY1.51 trillion ($9.2 billion) project, currently under construction on Yumeshima Island and expected to open in 2030, is being closely watched as other prefectures consider whether to pursue their own IR bids.
Tanaka pointed to growing criticism of local government initiatives in Osaka, where some responsible gambling awareness campaigns have been outsourced to advertising agencies without specialist expertise.
“The public is increasingly sceptical that these measures are nothing more than responsible gambling as a mere performance,” she said.
Tanaka noted that around 70 per cent of the public opposed casino legalisation during the 2018 IR debate, yet the bill was still passed by the ruling coalition. In her view, gambling-related harm has only worsened since then, particularly among younger people, while the safeguards promised when the IR legislation was approved have yet to materialise.
Beyond basic safeguards
She also stressed that responsible gambling programmes cannot be left solely in the hands of casino operators. “Policy-making and programme design must be centred on the insights of support organisations, medical professionals and affected families,” she said. “Operators should provide funding and enforce compliance, but treatment, prevention and support must be led by independent third-party organisations.”
She also called for continuous monitoring after any measures are introduced. “Continuous Data Monitoring and Evaluation Systems. Independent research institutions must measure and evaluate the real-time impact of implemented measures in reducing harm. A governance system must be established to immediately refine or dismantle measures that prove ineffective.”
Hokkaido plans to submit draft versions of its updated IR policy and development concept to the prefectural assembly in September before finalising both documents in October. The prefecture has yet to decide whether to formally pursue an IR bid.
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