Is Online Gambling Legal in Japan?
No. Gambling is banned under Chapter 23 of Japan’s Penal Code, apart from forms that special laws allow, and no law allows online casinos. Article 185 punishes simple gambling with a fine of up to 500,000 yen or a petty fine, and Article 186 punishes habitual gambling with up to three years in prison. Japanese courts apply these articles to online play: in 2016 the Fukuoka District Court held that placing bets over the internet from within Japan is gambling, even when the servers are located overseas.
That makes Japan unusual. In most countries that ban online casinos, the offence falls on the operator. In Japan, the player betting from home is covered too, and police have acted on it: in 2025 the National Police Agency recorded a record 158 online casino cases involving 221 people, 196 of them customers.
Japan’s 2025 Law on Online Casino Promotion
In June 2025 the Diet amended the Basic Act on Gambling Addiction Countermeasures, and the changes took effect on 25 September 2025. The amended law prohibits presenting websites or apps that give access to illegal online gambling to people in Japan, and spreading information that induces people in Japan to take part. National and local governments must also run campaigns explaining that online casinos are illegal in Japan.
The law took effect against a background of high-profile cases, with television personalities and professional athletes questioned or referred to prosecutors over online casino play in 2025. Police have also turned to the people who route players to the sites, and the National Police Agency asks internet providers and platforms to remove online casino adverts.
How Many People in Japan Use Online Casinos?
The National Police Agency’s first survey on the subject, published in March 2025, questioned 7,000 people and estimated that about 3.37 million people in Japan have played at online casinos, wagering around 1.24 trillion yen a year. The same study looked at 40 online casino sites, all licensed by overseas governments, and found that only two displayed a notice saying they could not be used from Japan.
How International Online Casinos Work for Players in Japan
Every casino on the list holds its licence from a regulator outside Japan, and that licence determines what a player can rely on: the identity checks, the withdrawal limits and the body that handles a dispute. No Japanese authority supervises these sites or hears complaints about them, so the overseas licence is the only oversight, and our guide to online casino licences compares the main regulators.
Restricted-country lists matter a great deal for Japan. A number of international casinos bar players from Japan at registration, more accept them but exclude Japan from bonuses, and an account opened against a casino’s own restrictions can have its winnings voided. The broader trade-offs are compared in licensed versus offshore casinos.
Casino Bonuses for Players in Japan
Japan is one of the countries international casinos most often exclude from welcome offers: several operators accept players from Japan but bar them from every promotion except cashback, so a casino can appear with no bonus attached. Where an offer is available, it is priced in euros, so its value in yen moves with the exchange rate. The rollover shows how much play a bonus requires: a 10,000 yen bonus at 35x means 350,000 yen of bets before it can be withdrawn. Slots usually count in full toward that total, while table and live games count for less or nothing. Offers that include Japan are gathered on our page of Japan casino bonuses.
Payments to Online Casinos From Japan
Japan is moving to cut the money flow. A government basic plan adopted in March 2025 has the National Police Agency, the Financial Services Agency and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry warning businesses to curb remittances and credit card payments to online casinos, and asks card issuers and international card brands to remove online casino operators from their networks. Some payment providers, such as Revolut, already bar their cards from online gambling in Japan. The methods each casino accepts appear on its card and in our guide to casino payment methods.
Do You Pay Tax on Gambling Winnings in Japan?
Japanese tax practice treats winnings from online casinos as temporary income, ichiji shotoku. The calculation takes the winnings, subtracts the amount spent to win them and a special deduction of up to 500,000 yen, and then taxes half of what remains alongside other income. Losing bets are generally not deducted, so a year of mixed results can still produce a tax bill on the winning sessions. Prizes from takarakuji lotteries are the main exception, as they are tax-free. Tax rules in other countries are compared in our guide to tax on casino winnings.
Keiba, Pachinko and Japan’s Legal Gambling
Japan allows gambling where a special law creates an exception, mostly under public control. The four public sports, horse racing (keiba), bicycle racing (keirin), powerboat racing (kyotei) and motorcycle speedway (auto race), are run by local governments or government corporations on a parimutuel basis, returning 70 to 80% of sales as prizes. Prefectures and large cities run takarakuji lotteries, with the prize pool kept below half of sales, and toto football pools run under their own law.
Pachinko is the large exception. It is not classified as gambling: players cannot receive cash in the parlour, so they exchange balls for prize tokens that are sold for cash at a separate shop nearby, often linked to the parlour. Pachinko and slot parlours remain one of Japan’s most visible forms of play, with more than 12,000 parlours counted in 2011.
Casinos in Japan: MGM Osaka and the IR Law
Japan has no casino yet. The Integrated Resort Implementation Act, passed on 20 July 2018, allows up to three integrated resorts, each with one casino covering no more than 3% of the resort. Japanese residents will pay a 6,000 yen entry fee and may enter no more than three times in seven days and ten times in 28 days, counted across all casinos, while foreign visitors pay no fee. Osaka is first: MGM Osaka broke ground on Yumeshima, the island that hosted Expo 2025, on 24 April 2025, as a 1.27 trillion yen project with around 2,500 hotel rooms, and is due to open in 2030.
A Short History of Gambling Law in Japan
Japan’s ban on private gambling has long been paired with state-run exceptions. The public sports and takarakuji lotteries grew up under special laws in the post-war years, pachinko developed its three-step prize exchange outside the gambling law, and the 2018 IR Act opened the door to casino resorts under strict entry limits. Online casinos never received an exception. As Japanese players moved to overseas sites, enforcement followed them: the 2016 Fukuoka ruling, the March 2025 survey and plan, and the September 2025 amendment aimed at the sites and the promotion behind them.
Responsible Gambling and Help in Japan
Gambling addiction is a recognised public health issue in Japan, and the Basic Act on Gambling Addiction Countermeasures requires national and local government to provide counselling and treatment. Prefectural mental health and welfare centres offer free consultations on gambling problems, and family members can seek advice there too. At an international casino, the protection sits in the account settings: a deposit cap, a cooling-off period or self-exclusion, ideally switched on before the first payment. Our page on national self-exclusion registers covers the systems used in licensed markets.
The Future of Online Gambling in Japan
Enforcement is the direction of travel: more cases against users, the promotion ban and tighter payment controls. The casino Japan is preparing for is a physical one, opening in Osaka in 2030 with entry limits for residents, not an online market. Neighbouring regions offer a contrast, with Macao running licensed land-based casinos and the Philippines licensing gaming through PAGCOR; our pages on casinos in Macao and online casinos in the Philippines cover both.
