{"id":109605,"date":"2019-07-19T08:28:26","date_gmt":"2019-07-19T15:28:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=109605"},"modified":"2019-07-19T08:28:26","modified_gmt":"2019-07-19T15:28:26","slug":"japanese-pachinko-king-billionaire-kazuo-okada-loses-court-battles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/japanese-pachinko-king-billionaire-kazuo-okada-loses-court-battles\/","title":{"rendered":"Japanese Pachinko King Billionaire Kazuo Okada Loses Court Battles in Philippines, Tokyo"},"content":{"rendered":"

“Pachinko King” Kazuo Okada was once one of the most powerful individuals in the Asia gaming industry, but after losing court decisions in the Philippines and Japan this week, the billionaire’s muscle continues to weaken.<\/p>\n

\"Kazuo
Courts in both the Philippines and Japan have handed down decisions against Kazuo Okada. (Image: Bloomberg)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Paranaque Regional Trial Court Branch 257 in Manila denied Okada’s attempt to have an arrest warrant nulled that’s related to the charges of “estafa” he’s facing by Filipino authorities.<\/p>\n

\n

The 77-year-old billionaire is accused of swindling $3.1 million from Tiger Resort Leisure and Entertainment \u2013 the parent company to Okada Manila \u2013 between November 2016 and March 2017.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Okada is worth an estimated $2.2 billion by Forbes<\/i>. He made his fortune by manufacturing pachinko and slot machines, and was an early investor in Wynn Resorts. Steve Wynn severed ties with Okada in 2008 after allegations came to light that he was bribing officials in the Philippines to allow him to build what became the $2.4 billion Okada Manila.<\/p>\n

Universal Decisions<\/b><\/h2>\n

Okada was ousted from his company Universal Entertainment and its subsidiaries Okada Holdings and Tiger Resort<\/a> in June 2017 after he was accused by the Universal board of stealing more than $17 million from the group to purchase artworks for his private collection. Okada’s own children and wife backed his removal.<\/p>\n

In response, Okada launched the most bizarre social media campaign<\/a> on YouTube offering a JPY 100 million check ($930,000) to anyone who helps him regain control of the gaming empire he founded.<\/p>\n

\n

A Japanese court ruled this week that his removal was lawful. The Tokyo High Court dismissed claims from Okada’s attorneys that the trust agreement Universal reached for his daughter Hiromi and son Tomohiro is invalid. The court called the appeal “groundless.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

While Hiromi’s relationship is said to still be strong with Okada, his relationship with Tomohiro is strained. Under the trust, Tomohiro maintains a majority 53 percent voting power in the combined group, meaning the odds of his father being reinstated to the board are long.<\/p>\n

Fall From Graces<\/b><\/h2>\n

Kazuo Okada and Steve Wynn were once close pals, as the Japanese tycoon helped the Las Vegas visionary launch his casino company following his sale of Mirage Resorts. Okada invested $380 million in Wynn Resorts, and sat on the company’s board of directors until 2013.<\/p>\n

\n

Mr. Wynn was first to sever ties by not investing in Okada Manila. Okada refused to leave until 2013 when Wynn Resorts forcibly redeemed his 20 percent ownership stake through a 10-year promissory note valued at $1.9 billion.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

“I no longer believe it is appropriate for me to serve on the board of directors of a company that is behaving in a manner that I deeply believe to be unethical, and that has refused my reasonable requests to promptly investigate what appears to me to be misconduct by Steve Wynn, and thus is under the dictatorship of Mr. Wynn and fails to fulfill its original function,” Okada wrote in scathing six-page letter in 2013.<\/p>\n

Today, Mr. Wynn is no longer associated with Wynn Resorts following the 2018 alleged sexual misconduct scandal, and Mr. Okada is no longer part of Universal Entertainment due to allegations of estafa.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Pachinko King” Kazuo Okada was once one of the most powerful individuals in the Asia gaming industry, but after losing court decisions in the Philippines and Japan this week, the billionaire’s muscle continues to weaken. The Paranaque Regional Trial Court Branch 257 in Manila denied Okada’s attempt to have an arrest warrant nulled that’s related […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":109609,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,60],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nJapanese Pachinko King Billionaire Kazuo Okada Loses Court Battles<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Billionaire Kazuo Okada has lost court decisions in both the Philippines and Japan, as the gaming tycoon's career continues to suffer setbacks.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Japanese Pachinko King Billionaire Kazuo Okada Loses Court Battles\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Billionaire Kazuo Okada has lost court decisions in both the Philippines and Japan, as the gaming tycoon's career continues to suffer setbacks.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/japanese-pachinko-king-billionaire-kazuo-okada-loses-court-battles\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-07-19T15:28:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/n-fbi-a-20170116-870x592.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Devin O'Connor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@CasinoorgDevinO\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Devin O'Connor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/japanese-pachinko-king-billionaire-kazuo-okada-loses-court-battles\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/japanese-pachinko-king-billionaire-kazuo-okada-loses-court-battles\/\",\"name\":\"Japanese Pachinko King Billionaire Kazuo Okada Loses Court Battles\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/japanese-pachinko-king-billionaire-kazuo-okada-loses-court-battles\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/japanese-pachinko-king-billionaire-kazuo-okada-loses-court-battles\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/n-fbi-a-20170116-870x592.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-07-19T15:28:26+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-07-19T15:28:26+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/02b4fee8814a4003903b0021bffb4ebf\"},\"description\":\"Billionaire Kazuo Okada has lost court decisions in both the Philippines and Japan, as the gaming tycoon's career continues to suffer setbacks.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/japanese-pachinko-king-billionaire-kazuo-okada-loses-court-battles\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/japanese-pachinko-king-billionaire-kazuo-okada-loses-court-battles\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/japanese-pachinko-king-billionaire-kazuo-okada-loses-court-battles\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/n-fbi-a-20170116-870x592.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/n-fbi-a-20170116-870x592.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":800,\"caption\":\"Courts in both the Philippines and Japan have handed down decisions against Kazuo Okada. (Image: Bloomberg)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/japanese-pachinko-king-billionaire-kazuo-okada-loses-court-battles\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Legal\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/legal\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Japanese Pachinko King Billionaire Kazuo Okada Loses Court Battles in Philippines, Tokyo\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Casino.org\",\"description\":\"Latest Casino and Gaming News\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/02b4fee8814a4003903b0021bffb4ebf\",\"name\":\"Devin O'Connor\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-4-1-96x96.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-4-1-96x96.png\",\"caption\":\"Devin O'Connor\"},\"description\":\"Devin O'Connor is a senior reporter for Casino.org, covering politics, casino business, entertainment and gaming news on the East Coast. Devin's passion for politics and background in the world of pop culture television gives him insight into the gaming industry backstories that often drive news these days. After graduating from Penn State University with a theater arts degree, he worked at MTV Networks\/Viacom from 2005 to 2010 as a writer and producer. His credits included Total Request Live, New Year's Eve specials, and a special featuring poker superstar Daniel Negreanu. He later moved on to the HGTV\/DIY Network, where he created, wrote, and produced three series specials: That's So House Hunters, That's So 80s, and That's So 90s. Devin came on board with Casino.org in 2014. He lives in Pennsylvania and is an avid marathoner, having completed 15 races. Contact Devin at devin.oconnor@casino.org.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/devinoconnor\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/CasinoorgDevinO\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/devin-oconnor\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Japanese Pachinko King Billionaire Kazuo Okada Loses Court Battles","description":"Billionaire Kazuo Okada has lost court decisions in both the Philippines and Japan, as the gaming tycoon's career continues to suffer setbacks.","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Japanese Pachinko King Billionaire Kazuo Okada Loses Court Battles","og_description":"Billionaire Kazuo Okada has lost court decisions in both the Philippines and Japan, as the gaming tycoon's career continues to suffer setbacks.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/japanese-pachinko-king-billionaire-kazuo-okada-loses-court-battles\/","og_site_name":"Casino.org","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews","article_published_time":"2019-07-19T15:28:26+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":800,"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/n-fbi-a-20170116-870x592.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Devin O'Connor","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@CasinoorgDevinO","twitter_site":"@Casino_Org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Devin O'Connor","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/japanese-pachinko-king-billionaire-kazuo-okada-loses-court-battles\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/japanese-pachinko-king-billionaire-kazuo-okada-loses-court-battles\/","name":"Japanese Pachinko King Billionaire Kazuo Okada Loses Court Battles","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/japanese-pachinko-king-billionaire-kazuo-okada-loses-court-battles\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/japanese-pachinko-king-billionaire-kazuo-okada-loses-court-battles\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/n-fbi-a-20170116-870x592.jpg","datePublished":"2019-07-19T15:28:26+00:00","dateModified":"2019-07-19T15:28:26+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/02b4fee8814a4003903b0021bffb4ebf"},"description":"Billionaire Kazuo Okada has lost court decisions in both the Philippines and Japan, as the gaming tycoon's career continues to suffer setbacks.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/japanese-pachinko-king-billionaire-kazuo-okada-loses-court-battles\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/japanese-pachinko-king-billionaire-kazuo-okada-loses-court-battles\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/japanese-pachinko-king-billionaire-kazuo-okada-loses-court-battles\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/n-fbi-a-20170116-870x592.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/n-fbi-a-20170116-870x592.jpg","width":1200,"height":800,"caption":"Courts in both the Philippines and Japan have handed down decisions against Kazuo Okada. (Image: Bloomberg)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/japanese-pachinko-king-billionaire-kazuo-okada-loses-court-battles\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Legal","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/legal\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Japanese Pachinko King Billionaire Kazuo Okada Loses Court Battles in Philippines, Tokyo"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/","name":"Casino.org","description":"Latest Casino and Gaming News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/02b4fee8814a4003903b0021bffb4ebf","name":"Devin O'Connor","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-4-1-96x96.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-4-1-96x96.png","caption":"Devin O'Connor"},"description":"Devin O'Connor is a senior reporter for Casino.org, covering politics, casino business, entertainment and gaming news on the East Coast. Devin's passion for politics and background in the world of pop culture television gives him insight into the gaming industry backstories that often drive news these days. After graduating from Penn State University with a theater arts degree, he worked at MTV Networks\/Viacom from 2005 to 2010 as a writer and producer. His credits included Total Request Live, New Year's Eve specials, and a special featuring poker superstar Daniel Negreanu. He later moved on to the HGTV\/DIY Network, where he created, wrote, and produced three series specials: That's So House Hunters, That's So 80s, and That's So 90s. Devin came on board with Casino.org in 2014. He lives in Pennsylvania and is an avid marathoner, having completed 15 races. Contact Devin at devin.oconnor@casino.org.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/devinoconnor\/","https:\/\/x.com\/CasinoorgDevinO"],"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/devin-oconnor\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109605"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=109605"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109605\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/109609"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=109605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=109605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}