Tim Alper is a journalist who covers betting news and regulation for CasinoBeats. He joined the CasinoBeats team in May 2025. He reports on breaking news and developments in the world of betting, casinos, and...
Read Full BioJapanese police will order website administrators and social media platform operators to take down posts and pages that direct web users to online casino sites.
The Japanese media outlets NHK and NTV reported that the National Police Agency has decided to classify all internet posts that provide links to online casino sites as sources of “illegal information.”
This will give police the power to order site administrators and platform managers to remove them immediately or face prosecution.
Japanese Casino Crackdown Continues
The move is part of the police’s move to merge its anti-gambling drive with its Internet Hotline Center initiative.
The center was designed to handle tip-offs and other reports about the spread of “illegal and harmful information on the internet.”
A new anti-gambling law, approved by Japanese lawmakers last month, will allow the police to start issuing orders from September this year.
The NPA will specifically target posts and website content that contain links to online casino sites.
However, it will also target posts from people trying to promote gambling sites without actually providing clickable URL links.
Police will look for posts that contain gambling terminology, or prompt social media users to use specific terms in search engines when looking for illegal casino sites.
Officers will also be on the lookout for posts that direct users to online casino “sister sites,” which are free-to-play gaming sites that direct users to pay-to-play platforms.
The new law strengthens regulations on online casinos, which remain illegal in Japan. The law will introduce criminal liability for the operators of online casino sites.
It will also introduce harsher fines for patrons of online casinos, with habitual gamblers facing potential jail time.
Majority of Japanese-Facing Online Casinos Operate from Offshore
Police and prosecutors have recently stepped up efforts to eliminate online betting by cracking down on celebrities and sports stars who use online casinos and betting apps.
Many have claimed in their defence that they did not know that betting on overseas-based platforms was illegal in Japan.
The NPA thinks that the vast majority of websites that target Japanese gamblers are based overseas. And a whopping 70% of these sites are based in the Dutch Caribbean territory of Curaçao, officers believe.
Earlier this year, the agency asked the Foreign Ministry to help it pressure the government of Curaçao and other territories to shut down online casinos that target Japanese web users.
Government officials, meanwhile, are mulling plans to use geoblocking or other methods to completely block Japanese IP addresses from accessing popular overseas casino platforms.
