Japanese police officers under fire over alleged gambling

• Nine police officers charged with illegal gambling in Japan
• The officers only participated in online casino gambling
• The activity is deemed illegal even if people are only playing at such websites

Japan continues with its crackdown on illegal gambling, choosing what could be an unorthodox approach - targeting celebrities, officials, and public servants, along with ordinary citizens.

While the country has been fighting a similar battle against the offshore operators that mostly operate from overseas, a marked change of tactic has been the targeting of players.

Japan continues crackdown on illegal gambling, targets police

Nine such persons, police officers, were identified as online gamblers and have been either suspended from duty or faced pay cuts pending further investigation.

The news was shared by the prefectural police department of Hyogo, with the police officers suspected of spending time and money at online casinos outside work hours.

This is still illegal under Japan’s tight gambling laws, which prohibit all sorts of online gambling and hold players and operators to be, if not equally guilty, then at least responsible for participating.

Some of the officers have already admitted fault, with one regretting his actions and arguing that he should have been aware of the fact that online gambling is a crime, even when engaging as a player only.

Local media reports said that six of the police officers were part of the same police station. One of the suspects was also a senior police officer, but the culprits’ names were not disclosed.

The senior police officer is said to have placed more than 5m yen worth of wagers, and has bet more than 3,000 times. The three remaining police officers were police officers from the capital’s prefecture.

More prominent members of society investigated

Earlier this year, Japan also targeted employees at the Fuji TV Network, including several prominent figureheads, such as Yoshitaka Suzuki, who was, at the time, in charge of planning the show division.

Bringing such high-profile cases against celebrities and established professionals has been used by Japanese authorities as a way to raise awareness about the fact that the country treats participation as a crime.

Many jurisdictions around the world do so as well, but enforcement is usually nonexistent.

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