Japan’s IR legislation takes shape

Tuesday 13th of June 2017

On Tuesday the Experts’ Committee shaping the Abe government’s IR Implementation Bill held a meeting at the Prime Minister’s Official Residence under the chairmanship of Hitotsubashi University Professor Hirotaka Yamauchi. A number of new plans were submitted to the committee and approved.

Major decisions included that a “Casino Management Board” would be established as an external bureau of the Cabinet Office. Also, there would be only a single, tightly secured casino, with a limit on its total area of floor space.

Under this plan, casinos would consist of games such as slot machines, card games, roulette, etc, but wagering on sports events and online gaming would be banned.

Various measures aimed at impeding problem gambling are also included in the experts’ plan, such as banning ATMs and use of credit cards within the casino facilities. Japanese nationals will be required to purchase their casino chips with cash.

The casino area of an IR is meant to be tightly controlled for security, including a responsibility to set up security cameras at the entrance.

The next meeting of the Experts’ Committee will reportedly deal mainly with policies to prevent money laundering at Japanese IRs.

Bricks & Mortar Implementation Bill