Photo/Illutration A pizza delivery company worker passes out fliers informing users that online casinos are illegal. (Daichi Itakura)

With online gambling in the news recently with reports that professional athletes and entertainers have been using such sites, the Upper House on June 18 strengthened provisions on illegal virtual casinos. 

Lawmakers passed into law a revision to the basic law on dealing with gambling addiction.

Under the revised law, starting new online casino sites, including through smartphone apps, will be banned. In addition, internet ads and social media posts that encourage users to visit virtual casino sites will also be banned.

The central and local governments will also be called on to educate the public about the illegality of online gambling sites.

It remains to be seen how effective the legal changes will be since there are no penalties for failure to comply with the new provisions.

But the stronger provisions mean it will be easier for online site operators to respond to requests by the police to shut down gambling sites.

And because many online casino sites are approved for business by foreign governments, the revised law will allow Japanese officials to contact their foreign counterparts and ask that they take action to block access from devices in Japan.

According to a study by the National Police Agency, about 3.37 million Japanese have gambled on online casino sites at least once. About 40 percent of those who responded to the study said they were unaware that playing on such sites was illegal.

Police have also begun cracking down on operators of online payment systems for their involvement in online casino sites.

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