12 Arrested in Tokyo as Shop Offers Access to Offshore Gambling Sites
Tokyo police have arrested 12 people after raiding an illegal casino operation in the city’s Shinjuku Ward. Officers stormed a shop in the Kabukicho entertainment district called RIZIN, which they say provided access to offshore online casinos through in-house computer terminals located in Tokyo.
During the raid, police detained five employees and seven customers, who ranged in age from their 20s to their 80s. Investigators found at least 20 personal computers and records of more than 5,000 potential customers linked to the operation.
The employees confessed to helping customers gamble on foreign casino websites from inside the venue.
Japan’s Casino Regulatory Commission recently appointed Tetsuya Nakamura as its new Secretary-General, replacing Tomoyuki Iwashita, signaling ongoing regulatory efforts in Tokyo’s gambling sector.
Police in Japan, including authorities in Tokyo, have previously arrested people for gambling on online casinos using personal devices and have cracked down on payment processors suspected of handling transactions between users and illegal operators.
Japanese law strictly bans all forms of gambling via online casinos, regardless of where the operators are based. Police say investigations will continue in Tokyo and warn that more arrests could follow.
