{"id":124017,"date":"2020-01-09T15:53:30","date_gmt":"2020-01-09T23:53:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=124017"},"modified":"2020-01-09T16:25:46","modified_gmt":"2020-01-10T00:25:46","slug":"japans-opposition-has-casinos-in-cross-hairs-with-bill-to-repeal-ir-act","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/japans-opposition-has-casinos-in-cross-hairs-with-bill-to-repeal-ir-act\/","title":{"rendered":"Japan Opposition Parties Have Casinos in Cross Hairs, Bill to Repeal IR Act Underway"},"content":{"rendered":"

Japan\u2019s opposition parties have said they will introduce a bill that seeks to repeal the Integrated Resorts Promotion Act (IRPA), the law passed in 2016 that paved the way for the legalization of casinos in the country.<\/p>\n

\"Japan
Opposition lawmakers rush the chairman of the Lower House Cabinet Committee, Daishiro Yamagiwa, in a bid to derail Japan\u2019s casino bill on June 18, 2018.(Image: Mainichi)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The bill — which will be introduced on January 20, the first day of Japan\u2019s legislative session — would effectively abolish casinos before a single stone has been laid.<\/p>\n

Opposition lawmakers fought hard against IRPA and its successor, 2018\u2019s Integrated Resorts Implementation Act (IRIA), which officially legalized casino gaming. A literal fight<\/a> broke out on the floor of the Lower House a day before IRIA was passed.<\/p>\n

On June 18, 2018, with just days left of the legislative session, anti-casino lawmakers rushed the chairman of the Lower House Cabinet Committee and tried to grab his microphone in a bid to sabotage the bill\u2019s passage. Such dramatic scenes are extremely rare in Japan\u2019s normally decorous parliament, known as the Diet.<\/p>\n

Protests were in vain. Both Diet chambers were controlled by the pro-casino ruling coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito Party, which forced the bill through. And both remain in control today, which means the new bill will be a heavy lift.<\/p>\n

Kickback Scandal<\/strong><\/h2>\n

But the opposition is hoping that a recent bribery scandal that has engulfed six pro-casino lawmakers will give them the momentum they need.<\/p>\n

On Christmas Day, members of the Tokyo Public Prosecutor\u2019s special investigation squad arrested Tsukasa Akimoto, a senior vice minister at the Cabinet Office and a key casino policymaker, as part of a corruption investigation.<\/p>\n

Akimoto is accused of accepting bribes from Chinese online gaming and lottery company 500.com, which was involved in a bid to build a casino in Hokkaido until the province dropped out of the race late last year.<\/p>\n

\n

Since the arrest, a Japanese former consultant for 500.com has named five more lawmakers — including former defense minister Takeshi Iwaya — who, he claims, accepted kickbacks from the company for preferential treatment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

All deny the allegations, except for Nippon Ishin no Kai party Representative Mikio Shimoji, who admitted Monday that his office had received an illegal donation — around US$9,250 — from 500.com for his 2017 general election campaign.<\/p>\n

Scepticism Widespread<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The national government has shrugged off the scandal<\/a> and is determined to press ahead with the integrated resorts process. On Monday, a casino control commission was officially established to oversee the licensing and regulation of casinos.<\/p>\n

Casino liberalization has been a long-cherished goal of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, and part of a wider bundle of economic growth strategies that have been collectively dubbed “Abeconics.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Japanese citizens largely share the skepticism of Japan\u2019s opposition parties towards casinos. Polls have consistently shown the public is opposed to the establishment of integrated resorts by a 2 to 1 margin.<\/p>\n

A September 2018 poll found that a staggering 94 percent of Yokohama citizens said they had \u201cnegative viewpoints\u201d on allowing an integrated casino resort in their city.<\/p>\n

Yukio Edano, leader of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, told the\u00a0Japan Times <\/em>recently that \u201cUS casino operators will set up subsidiaries and operate them, and losses by Japanese gamblers will be channeled to the US.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis selling-off of the country is akin to treason,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Japan\u2019s opposition parties have said they will introduce a bill that seeks to repeal the Integrated Resorts Promotion Act (IRPA), the law passed in 2016 that paved the way for the legalization of casinos in the country. The bill — which will be introduced on January 20, the first day of Japan\u2019s legislative session — […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":124018,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,61],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nJapan's Opposition Has Casinos in Cross Hairs With Bill to Repeal IR Act<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Japan\u2019s future casino market is under threat as opposition parties introduce a bill that would abolish casinos before the first stone has been laid.\" \/>\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=\"Japan's Opposition Has Casinos in Cross Hairs With Bill to Repeal IR Act\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Japan\u2019s future casino market is under threat as opposition parties introduce a bill that would abolish casinos before the first stone has been laid.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/japans-opposition-has-casinos-in-cross-hairs-with-bill-to-repeal-ir-act\/\" \/>\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=\"2020-01-09T23:53:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-01-10T00:25:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jappy-brawl2.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"438\" \/>\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=\"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\/japans-opposition-has-casinos-in-cross-hairs-with-bill-to-repeal-ir-act\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/japans-opposition-has-casinos-in-cross-hairs-with-bill-to-repeal-ir-act\/\",\"name\":\"Japan's Opposition Has Casinos in Cross Hairs With Bill to Repeal IR Act\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/japans-opposition-has-casinos-in-cross-hairs-with-bill-to-repeal-ir-act\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/japans-opposition-has-casinos-in-cross-hairs-with-bill-to-repeal-ir-act\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jappy-brawl2.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-01-09T23:53:30+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-01-10T00:25:46+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"Japan\u2019s future casino market is under threat as opposition parties introduce a bill that would abolish casinos before the first stone has been laid.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/japans-opposition-has-casinos-in-cross-hairs-with-bill-to-repeal-ir-act\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/japans-opposition-has-casinos-in-cross-hairs-with-bill-to-repeal-ir-act\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/japans-opposition-has-casinos-in-cross-hairs-with-bill-to-repeal-ir-act\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jappy-brawl2.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jappy-brawl2.jpg\",\"width\":900,\"height\":438,\"caption\":\"Opposition lawmakers rush the chairman of the Lower House Cabinet Committee, Daishiro Yamagiwa, in a bid to derail Japan\u2019s casino bill on June 18, 2018. 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