Photo/Illutration Police investigators in protective clothing against COVID-19 seize a baccarat table in Tokyo’s Roppongi district on June 15. (Masayuki Takashima)

The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department raided an illegal casino that was operating out of a luxury high-rise apartment building in Tokyo’s Roppongi district on June 14.

The casino manager and staffers in their 40s and 50s, all males, were arrested on site on suspicion of operating a casino for profit. Two customers, a man and a woman, were also arrested on suspicion of gambling, according to investigative sources.

The bust was part of clean-up efforts by police in shopping and entertainment areas ahead of the Tokyo Olympics. The police will investigate the involvement of criminal gangs in the operation. 

The arrested casino manager is Takashi Yamaguchi, 52. 

According to police, Yamaguchi said during questioning, "We opened a casino school with no purpose to conduct gambling."

There was a website listing a school, but police believe that was meant to conceal the illegal activity. 

The six men were charged with allowing customers to gamble on baccarat on the night of June 14 at the apartment.

The police seized baccarat and poker tables during their search.

This 80-square-meter apartment consists of two bedrooms with a living room and a dining kitchen.

According to real estate dealers’ websites, the sale price of the apartment was around 200 million yen ($1.8 million). The apartment had no signboard.

Police believe that the casino was opened at the high-security apartment building to avoid suspicion, and that customers learned of the setup through word of mouth.

ILLEGAL CASINOS 'PAY WELL'

Most casinos are operated in a multitenant commercial building, and it was rare for a raid to be conducted at such an apartment, according to police.

The police consider casinos as the main financial sources for criminal gangs and continue to collect information in an attempt to crack down on them.

According to a gang-related member who runs casinos in the Tokyo metropolitan area, casinos often open in one room in a multitenant commercial building. The casino will be typically moved every few months to help stay ahead of law enforcement.

Baccarat tables and other gambling equipment are disassembled and transferred to other places as casino staff pretend to move out of the building.

Most well-heeled customers are middle-age or senior business owners. However, there have recently been more younger customers, who are not wealthy. According to a source associated with the management of another casino, there are more customers among gamblers who cannot travel to casinos abroad amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Running a casino is very costly, and the risk of arrest is great. However, people associated with the illegal industry say, “It pays well.”

A casino can rake in a monthly take of about 100 million yen in Tokyo if it has many customers. About 300,000 yen to 1 million yen is paid monthly to criminal gangs and related groups.

There are said to be many ways to avoid getting busted: inviting customers through invitation only; installing double-entry doors to buy more time in the event of emergencies, such as a raid; reducing the number of staff by switching to an online casino; hiding the proceeds under the floor or above the ceiling; and paying a high salary to staff to keep them quiet.

The police are aware of such techniques to try to thwart their efforts.

“We will continue to collect as much information as possible and be on the alert for malicious techniques,” a senior investigator said.

As part of the clean-up efforts in the capital ahead of the Games, the police arrested a scout for a sex-related business, a gang member and others, for fighting in the streets in the Kabukicho district in Shinjuku Ward since last fall.

In April, the police also busted a casino in Sumida Ward while it was strengthening regulations on the illegal activity of aggressively soliciting customers on the street in the Ikebukuro district in Toshima Ward.

(This article was written by Masayuki Takashima and Nobuaki Tanaka.)

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