Online casino settlement agents arrested in Japan
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Police in Tokyo and Aichi and Fukuoka prefectures have arrested two corporate executives for allegedly aiding habitual gambling by helping domestic customers of overseas online casinos make payments, it was learned on Wednesday.
Yoshiaki Maeda, 42, and Shinya Tokita, 42, became the first Japanese online casino settlement agents to be arrested on such charges.
The police believe that Maeda and Tokita transferred tens of billions of yen and earned more than ¥2.1 billion in commission fees.
The two are suspected of mediating deposits and withdrawals of 18 customers' money to and from overseas casino operators through a deposit and withdrawal system called Sumo Pay for about a year from around July 14, 2021.
The police have also sent papers to prosecutors on five people in their 30s to 50s on suspicion of assisting habitual gambling for their alleged involvement in the management of the system, and 21 customers in their 20s to 50s on suspicion of simple gambling.
The number of online casino users in Japan is believed to have surged during the COVID-19 pandemic, and gambling addiction and debt among them have become social problems.
