Lower House lawmaker Tsukasa Akimoto, who has just left the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, was arrested on Dec. 25 on suspicion of taking bribes from a Chinese company involved in online gambling.

The Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office has also searched the office of another LDP Lower House legislator in a scandal related to the government’s policy initiative to promote integrated resorts (IRs) including casinos.

Despite public concerns about such casino-related problems as a possible increase in the number of people addicted to gambling, money laundering and other forms of crimes, the law to promote IRs was enacted in December 2016.

Akimoto helped ensure the swift passage of the bill through the Lower House Cabinet Committee as its chairman.

In August 2017, Akimoto assumed the post of a senior vice minister of the Cabinet Office in charge of IRs and doubled as a senior vice minister of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. It was around that time when Akimoto started his relationship with the Chinese company.

Since Akimoto has denied any wrongdoing, prosecutors need to tread cautiously in their investigation into the allegations against the lawmaker.

If the allegations are true, however, they will cast serious doubt on the integrity of the process of drafting and debating the law to implement IR projects, which was enacted while Akimoto was serving as vice minister responsible for the initiative, as well as of the ensuing related internal procedures within the government.

But Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga failed to acknowledge the implications of Akimoto’s arrest for the government’s casino initiative at a news conference, saying the administration will proceed steadily with the preparations for introducing IRs to ensure that the economic effects of the initiative will kick in as early as possible.

Suga effectively declared that the scandal will have no impact on Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s policy efforts to create a casino industry in Japan, which the administration claims will help boost tourism and job growth.

Suga also said the government has no plans to establish new regulations to restrict contacts between IR operators and politicians and senior government officials.

Suga’s remarks clearly reflect the administration’s poor awareness of the harm that can be caused by the gambling industry.

A new committee in charge of regulating casinos is scheduled to be launched early next year. But the bribery allegations against Akimoto should prompt the government to stop to take a fresh hard look at possible problems involved in the casino business.

Many experts have long warned about the possibility of cozy relationships developing between IRs, which deal with huge amounts of money, and politicians. When Abe visited the United States in 2017, his breakfast meeting with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce was attended by the chief of a major casino company supporting President Donald Trump.

It has also been revealed that Yasutoshi Nishimura, minister in charge of economic revitalization, has sold tickets for his fund-raising party to a U.S. casino operator.

A legion of foreign casino businesses has been lobbying, both openly and secretly, to win political support for their expansion into the prospective Japanese market.

The Akimoto case is probably the tip of the iceberg. The administration needs to realize that it is impossible to win public support for the casino initiative without clarifying the vested-interest structure related to the casino industry.

Local governments seeking to host a casino should also act in a discreet manner.

Under the government’s plan, a local government wishing to be home to a casino is required to select a candidate operator and together submit an application to the government.

Many companies are jockeying fiercely to be selected as a local government’s partner.

Local governments with IR ambitions need to explain clearly and in detail to local residents and the local assemblies their criteria for selecting a business partner and spending plans for their lobbying campaigns.

But the reality is not measuring up to these requirements.

A lack of transparency in the process is behind a wave of skepticism and opposition concerning IRs that is growing in various parts of the nation.

Local governments aiming to be on the list need to take this opportunity to weigh afresh the wisdom of their efforts from the viewpoint that IRs will have serious implications for the future of the regions.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Dec. 26