JAPAN Trends and Developments Contributed by: Masayuki Fukuda, Nagashima Ohno & Tsunematsu
Recent Enforcement of Criminal Charges Against Users/Related Parties of Offshore Online Gambling In recent years, due to the nationwide problem gam- bling issue, the legality/illegality of offshore gambling services has been spotlighted in Japan. The Japanese Prime Minister made a comment at the June 2022 Diet Budget Committee meeting regarding the increase of enforcement against online casinos and gambling crimes, and subsequently the Japanese government published a statement on 21 June 2022 (as a response to an inquiry from a member of the Diet) that: • countermeasures against online casinos are being executed by the relevant agencies, the cracking down on gambling crimes is handled by the law enforcement authority, and the relevant agencies will continue to work together to take necessary measures; and • it is important to recognise the flow of money in respect of online casinos, and for such purpose, as an example, the law enforcement agency is using the information included in the notifications of sus- picious money laundering transactions filed under the Law on Prevention of Profit of Crime. The Japanese government issued another state- ment dated 20 June 2023 regarding cracking down on online casino (which says “a user may commit a crime of gambling even when it uses online casino being legitimately operated outside Japan”). In harmony with such recent statements of the Japa- nese government, the Japanese law enforcement agency has been actively cracking down on online gambling-related activities. In September 2023, seven individuals (allegedly involved in a settlement agency business for an offshore online gaming site) were arrested for allegedly having committed a crime of “running a gambling place for the purpose of gain- ing profit” for Japanese users, although such site is legitimately licensed under the Isle of Man. Some rel- evant users were also investigated by the police on suspicion of committing a crime of gambling. In Sep- tember 2024, three individuals were arrested because they allegedly had certain large amounts of money collected from about 10,000 people who took part in overseas online gambling, and had such money paid into their own bank accounts. In November 2024, 57
people, including a firefighter, were referred to pros- ecutors for allegedly gambling via offshore online casinos using cryptocurrencies. Since February 2025, several TV show comedians and professional/amateur athletes have been referred to prosecutors for similar offences. On 18 June 2025, the Basic Act on Countermeasures Against Gambling Addiction (Law No 74 of 2018 as amended) (the “Gambling Addiction Act”) was amend- ed, with such amendment taking effect on 25 Septem- ber 2025. The Gambling Addiction Act defines: • “illegal online gambling, etc” as gambling conduct- ed illegally via internet within japan; • “website for illegal online gambling, etc” as a web- site providing a platform for such gambling; and • “program for illegal online gambling, etc” as a pro- gram providing such a platform. The Gambling Addiction Act prohibits anyone who transmits information via the internet to unspeci- fied persons from (i) presenting a Website for Illegal Online Gambling, etc, or a Program for Illegal Online Gambling, etc, to unspecified Japanese residents; and (ii) transmission of information via the internet for directing unspecified Japanese residents to illegal online gambling, etc. Considering that the words “any person” are used therein, this prohibition applies to offshore online casino operators as well as domes- tic casino operators. With regard to (i), the meaning of “presenting” a website or program is not clearly defined. Conservatively, operating a casino site acces- sible to Japanese resident users may be considered “presenting”. Therefore, offshore online casino site operators should ensure their sites are unavailable to Japanese resident users. The most conservative approach is to make the site technically inaccessible to users in Japan such as geo-blocking, but it may be sufficient to implement measures such as display- ing a warning that “Japanese residents are prohibited from using the site due to its illegality of such activity under Japanese law”. In any case, international casino operators should be able to demonstrate that they are not “presenting” a website or program providing a site for illegal online gambling within Japan. There are no criminal penalties for violating this regulation under the Gambling Addiction Act and practically speaking it
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