Dec 18 (newsonjapan.com) - The spread of the Covid 19 pandemic has paralyzed the world economy to a great extent during 2020 and the country of Japan is not an exception to that.
All the major economies went for bigger lockdowns, affecting all big and smaller economies to a great extent. During this time, people spend a lot of time playing online casinos from their Smartphone. Nowadays, with the advent of the Smartphone and the Internet, many online casinos have come into the market and this has lured more people to start playing casinos online. But before joining any online casino, one must check whether the site is reliable or not. Many Japanese casino players play through Thailand casinos and if you want any reliable casino, you can visit online-casino-thailand.com for further details. These casinos are quite reliable and you can play safely through them.
With the legalization of the casinos in Japan, many big casinos are expected to open in Japan by next year, opening a new galore of job opportunities. Many people are opposing the idea while many are supporting it heavily. People who are opposing it are of the view that it will increase criminal activity and gambling addiction to a great extent, affecting the society at large. Hence to keep the social integrity normal, casinos should not be permitted in Japan. Moreover, just like in the UK, it may increase gambling addiction among the general people at large. But the Government of Japan has already made the casino business legalized. People who have supported the initiative of the Government are of the view that opening of the casinos may help to revitalize the economy to a great extent.
A political scandal, in between, erupted which fuelled the controversy further. Tsukasa Akimoto, an LDF (Liberal Democratic Party) lawmaker has been arrested for taking bribe from a big Chinese casino company as the latter was planning to enter into the Chinese market. Akimoto was a minister and always expressed his desire to promote the business of casinos. This bribery scandal has fuelled the anger of those who are opposing the move of legalization of casinos in Japan. In an opinion poll which was conducted in January this year, it was observed that around 70% opined that Government should drop the idea of promoting the casinos. The Opposition parties are strongly opposing this initiative of the Government to a great extent.
Though the Japanese Government is planning to frame new laws on gambling, Japan allows certain types of gambling which include motorcycle racing, motorboat and horse racing, football and lottery. Some electronic gaming machines (EGM) which are privately operated such as pachislot and pachinko are also very popular. The above-mentioned two machines are quite easily accessible to any person. You will find it interesting to know that 60% of the gaming machines of the world are mostly operated in Japan. But pachislot and pachinko come under legal category of “games†which has been termed for the purpose of entertainment for people who are more than 18 years of age.
In the year 2019, Government of Japan announced they are going to frame an action plan for gambling addiction and the treatment of them. The effort was done to show the people that they are conscious about the increase gambling addiction of the people and to make the people feel that opening of the casinos will not increase the gambling addiction of the people at large. The plan and the initiative have been limited to the problems which have been caused by the EGM’s and the fact is that EGM’s are not considered to be part of the gambling. Before passing the law, the Government wanted to prove to the people not to worry about gambling as they are already taking care of the negative aspects of gambling in the society. After that, the Government proceeded with the law to make playing in the casinos legalized in Japan.
People who oppose the policy of casino getting legalized are of the opinion that the Government is not serious about addressing the problems of gambling in the society. They feel that the Government is more interested in collecting tax from the industry. But the basic point is that the industry has to make profit to satisfy the tax demands of the government. If the profit of the casino industry is not more, they will not be able to meet the tax target of the Government. But the Government will have to start spending money to solve the various issues related to gambling which include prevention, child abuse, crime and also bankruptcy.
A study conducted in Victoria State of Australia reveals that the tax collected from casinos and gambling is also equal to the social costs that may arise from the process. While the social cost was estimated to be AU$7 billion, the tax collected from the casino industry has been estimated to be AU$7.4 billion. In some cases, it has been observed that the social cost of casinos and gambling done therein is more than the tax collected from gambling.
But when the economy goes down, many people lose their jobs and that becomes a great worry to the Government. Many people lose their income and go into deep economic crisis. It becomes the primary target of the Government to provide employment and income to more people at large. The casino industry, on the other hand, provides huge employment potential and can also help the people earn more money while sitting at home or office. When more people get employment or existing people get extra cash at hand, there is an increase in their purchasing power and that also helps the Government to get a boost in tax collection.
Though there are definitely some negative impacts of casino and gambling, but the Government always wants to see the picture from the larger perspective. Remaining unemployed and having no income always leads to increase in criminal activity in the future. The Government has to keep those things in mind as well to keep the society balanced at large.
