In Japan, The Office of Integrated Resort Regime Promotion, which consists of public servants who advise the Diet, as the Japanese government is well-known, has suggested the prohibition of junkets which are offering many VIP Casino customers the opportunity to travel and play at any given casino, which works with the junket operators.
Legislators in Japan are approaching the end of their negotiations and the final version of their Integrated Resort Implementation Bill. As it turns out it can place drastic limitations on the junket operators which will inevitably change the landscape of the gambling market in Japan.
By the end of the year, the Diet should gather for a session and vote the passing of the bill, which will shape the casino industry in Japan. However, we already know that online gambling and sports betting will be completely banned from all Japan casinos and the participation in them will be considered illegal.
What should be taken into account is the fact that gambling in casinos have only recently become legal in Japan. This happened in December 2016, when the Diet approved the Integrated Resort Promotion Bill. Now the time has come for a second bill to be crafted by lawmakers. The so-called Integrated Resort Implementation Bill aims to further regulate the gambling industry and set the framework for this to happen.
The civil servants have not made it public as to why they have recommended the prohibition of the junket operations, but they are known to have researched the issue with the credits and the gambling debts which are involved in Macauās casino industry. The casino industry in the autonomous region on the south coast of China has been openly criticized for its junket operators. They are notoriously known for their regular practice to collect and grant credits for those VIP customers, for the purpose of their gambling development.
It is also known that Japan aims to adopt the already established and well-functioning casino regulatory regime of Singapore, so apart from the general ban on junket operators, the government can opt for a different approach. The distinguished āinternational market agentsā strategy works flawlessly in Singapore, and in its essence it allows the agents to provide gamblers with credit. The only condition is that they should not be citizens of Singapore or permanent citizens of the city-state.
