{"id":122617,"date":"2019-12-19T09:39:44","date_gmt":"2019-12-19T17:39:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=122617"},"modified":"2019-12-19T10:08:46","modified_gmt":"2019-12-19T18:08:46","slug":"japanese-lawmaker-probed-over-ties-to-chinese-gaming-group","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/japanese-lawmaker-probed-over-ties-to-chinese-gaming-group\/","title":{"rendered":"Japanese Casino Policymaker Probed Over Alleged Ties to Chinese Gambling Company"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Wednesday, Tokyo\u2019s District Public Prosecutor grilled a lawmaker from Japan\u2019s ruling Liberal Democratic Party over his alleged links to a Chinese gambling company that is suspected of breaking foreign exchange laws.<\/p>\n

\"Tsukasa
Tsukasa Akimoto is suspected of having ties with a Chinese company that wanted to build a casino in Hokkaido. (Image: Uichiro Kasai)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Tsukasa Akimoto, 48, a member of the House of Representatives and active proponent of the legalization of casino gaming in Japan, was questioned on a voluntary basis, according to The Japan Times. <\/em><\/p>\n

As a senior vice minister at the Cabinet Office, Akimoto was in charge of the government\u2019s casino project policy from August 2017 to October 2018.<\/p>\n

But on Thursday, <\/em>Akimoto\u2019s parliamentary and constituency offices were raided by members of the public prosecutor\u2019s special investigation squad.<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, the homes of two of Akimoto\u2019s former secretaries were raided by police over their alleged ties to the unnamed company. The prosecutor\u2019s office believes that company brought several million yen into Japan without informing customs authorities, a crime punishable by up to six months in prison.<\/p>\n

Akimoto has publicly denied any wrongdoing.<\/p>\n

Likely Suspect?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

While the company has not been named by the authorities or in Japanese media, sources told the Japan Times<\/em> it is based in the city of Shenzhen in China\u2019s Guangdong province, operates sports lotteries, and was, until recently, interested in bidding for the right to build a casino in Hokkaido Province.<\/p>\n

Hokkaido recently pulled out<\/a> of the Japanese casino race, citing concerns over the impact construction might have on the ecology of nearby Lake Utonai and its environs.<\/p>\n

Sources also said that Akimoto delivered a speech about the casino market at a conference in Naha, Okinawa Prefecture in August 2017, where the head of the Chinese company also spoke.<\/p>\n

\n

The only Chinese company that shared the stage with Akimoto at the Okinawa symposium was New York-listed and Shenzhen-based 500.com, which was one of two companies approved by the Chinese government to operate an online sports lottery pilot project in 2013.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

500.com has struggled since Beijing suspended the project in 2015, and has sought to diversify. In October 2018, it announced it was prepared to invest $1.5 billion in bringing an integrated resort to Hokkaido.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors have also questioned senior officials in Rusutsu, the ski-resort village in Hokkaido where 500.com proposed developing the property.<\/p>\n

Slow Progress<\/h2>\n

Japan passed an enabling bill to legalize casinos in December 2016. This authorized the government to develop a framework of regulation for the future casino market, which resulted in legislation passed last year.<\/p>\n

The government is not likely to begin considering proposals for integrated resorts from municipalities and prefectures until 2021, officials said recently.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Wednesday, Tokyo\u2019s District Public Prosecutor grilled a lawmaker from Japan\u2019s ruling Liberal Democratic Party over his alleged links to a Chinese gambling company that is suspected of breaking foreign exchange laws. Tsukasa Akimoto, 48, a member of the House of Representatives and active proponent of the legalization of casino gaming in Japan, was questioned […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":122618,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,61],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nJapanese Lawmaker Probed Over Ties to Chinese Gaming Group<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Japanese lawmaker Tsukasa Akimoto's offices were raided over alleged link to a Chinese company that wanted to build a casino in Hokkaido.\" \/>\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 Lawmaker Probed Over Ties to Chinese Gaming Group\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Japanese lawmaker Tsukasa Akimoto's offices were raided over alleged link to a Chinese company that wanted to build a casino in Hokkaido.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/japanese-lawmaker-probed-over-ties-to-chinese-gaming-group\/\" \/>\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=\"2019-12-19T17:39:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-12-19T18:08:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/yakomoto.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1975\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1110\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgphilc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 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-lawmaker-probed-over-ties-to-chinese-gaming-group\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/japanese-lawmaker-probed-over-ties-to-chinese-gaming-group\/\",\"name\":\"Japanese Lawmaker Probed Over Ties to Chinese Gaming Group\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/japanese-lawmaker-probed-over-ties-to-chinese-gaming-group\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/japanese-lawmaker-probed-over-ties-to-chinese-gaming-group\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/yakomoto.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-12-19T17:39:44+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-12-19T18:08:46+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"Japanese lawmaker Tsukasa Akimoto's offices were raided over alleged link to a Chinese company that wanted to build a casino in Hokkaido.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/japanese-lawmaker-probed-over-ties-to-chinese-gaming-group\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/japanese-lawmaker-probed-over-ties-to-chinese-gaming-group\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/japanese-lawmaker-probed-over-ties-to-chinese-gaming-group\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/yakomoto.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/yakomoto.jpg\",\"width\":1975,\"height\":1110,\"caption\":\"Tsukasa Akimoto is suspected of having ties with a Chinese company that wanted to build a casino in Hokkaido. (Image: Uichiro Kasai)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/japanese-lawmaker-probed-over-ties-to-chinese-gaming-group\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Politics\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/politics\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Japanese Casino Policymaker Probed Over Alleged Ties to Chinese Gambling Company\"}]},{\"@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\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\",\"name\":\"Philip Conneller\",\"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-5-1-96x96.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png\",\"caption\":\"Philip Conneller\"},\"description\":\"In Philip Conneller\u2019s eight years with Casino.org, he has covered the gaming industry from Las Vegas to Macau and everything in between. He currently focuses his coverage on gaming law, white-collar crime, global money laundering, tribal gaming, politics, and regulation. Philip was the original features editor for poker\u2019s Bluff Magazine and editor for Bluff Europe, which he helped launch. His writing has also been featured in ESPN, Forbes, Time Out, The Sun, and The Daily Star, as well as iGaming Business, eGaming Review, and numerous other industry news and tech websites. His news stories for Casino.org\/news have been linked by The Washington Post, The Daily Mail, People Magazine, and Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show, among many others. Philip once won $20,000 with 7-2 off-suit. He has been reprimanded for unwittingly playing Elton John\u2019s piano on two separate occasions on both sides of the Atlantic. He became a writer because he is a lousy pianist. Philip lives outside London with his wife and children, where he spends his time agonizing about Arsenal FC. Contact Philip at philip.conneller@casino.org.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/muckrack.com\/philip-conneller\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/philip-conneller-1495a48\/?originalSubdomain=uk\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/casinoorgphilc\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/phillip-conneller\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Japanese Lawmaker Probed Over Ties to Chinese Gaming Group","description":"Japanese lawmaker Tsukasa Akimoto's offices were raided over alleged link to a Chinese company that wanted to build a casino in Hokkaido.","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Japanese Lawmaker Probed Over Ties to Chinese Gaming Group","og_description":"Japanese lawmaker Tsukasa Akimoto's offices were raided over alleged link to a Chinese company that wanted to build a casino in Hokkaido.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/japanese-lawmaker-probed-over-ties-to-chinese-gaming-group\/","og_site_name":"Casino.org","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews","article_published_time":"2019-12-19T17:39:44+00:00","article_modified_time":"2019-12-19T18:08:46+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1975,"height":1110,"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/yakomoto.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Philip Conneller","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@casinoorgphilc","twitter_site":"@Casino_Org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Philip Conneller","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/japanese-lawmaker-probed-over-ties-to-chinese-gaming-group\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/japanese-lawmaker-probed-over-ties-to-chinese-gaming-group\/","name":"Japanese Lawmaker Probed Over Ties to Chinese Gaming Group","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/japanese-lawmaker-probed-over-ties-to-chinese-gaming-group\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/japanese-lawmaker-probed-over-ties-to-chinese-gaming-group\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/yakomoto.jpg","datePublished":"2019-12-19T17:39:44+00:00","dateModified":"2019-12-19T18:08:46+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b"},"description":"Japanese lawmaker Tsukasa Akimoto's offices were raided over alleged link to a Chinese company that wanted to build a casino in Hokkaido.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/japanese-lawmaker-probed-over-ties-to-chinese-gaming-group\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/japanese-lawmaker-probed-over-ties-to-chinese-gaming-group\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/japanese-lawmaker-probed-over-ties-to-chinese-gaming-group\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/yakomoto.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/yakomoto.jpg","width":1975,"height":1110,"caption":"Tsukasa Akimoto is suspected of having ties with a Chinese company that wanted to build a casino in Hokkaido. (Image: Uichiro Kasai)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/japanese-lawmaker-probed-over-ties-to-chinese-gaming-group\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Politics","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/politics\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Japanese Casino Policymaker Probed Over Alleged Ties to Chinese Gambling Company"}]},{"@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\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b","name":"Philip Conneller","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-5-1-96x96.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png","caption":"Philip Conneller"},"description":"In Philip Conneller\u2019s eight years with Casino.org, he has covered the gaming industry from Las Vegas to Macau and everything in between. He currently focuses his coverage on gaming law, white-collar crime, global money laundering, tribal gaming, politics, and regulation. Philip was the original features editor for poker\u2019s Bluff Magazine and editor for Bluff Europe, which he helped launch. His writing has also been featured in ESPN, Forbes, Time Out, The Sun, and The Daily Star, as well as iGaming Business, eGaming Review, and numerous other industry news and tech websites. His news stories for Casino.org\/news have been linked by The Washington Post, The Daily Mail, People Magazine, and Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show, among many others. Philip once won $20,000 with 7-2 off-suit. He has been reprimanded for unwittingly playing Elton John\u2019s piano on two separate occasions on both sides of the Atlantic. He became a writer because he is a lousy pianist. Philip lives outside London with his wife and children, where he spends his time agonizing about Arsenal FC. Contact Philip at philip.conneller@casino.org.","sameAs":["https:\/\/muckrack.com\/philip-conneller","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/philip-conneller-1495a48\/?originalSubdomain=uk","https:\/\/x.com\/casinoorgphilc"],"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/phillip-conneller\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122617"}],"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\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=122617"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122617\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/122618"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=122617"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=122617"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=122617"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}