The ever-tightening restrictions being touted for Japan’s integrated resorts could see skill games including poker and sports betting banned from casino floors.
According to national newspaper The Mainichi, a list of recommendations submitted to the government by the Expert Committee last month includes stringent guidelines on the types of games that should be allowed in the nation’s casinos with key features being that they can be easily controlled by the operator, can only be played at casinos and, most significantly, are based on chance.
If enforced, the guidelines would limit the games available to the likes of baccarat, blackjack, roulette and sic bo while excluding poker, sports betting, wagers on horse racing and any form of gambling on mahjong and shogi.
However, The Mainichi reports that at least some members of the Expert Committee believe poker should be exempt from the guidelines because of its ability to attract large numbers of people to IRs, including foreigners.
Professional poker player and WSOP bracelet winner Naoya Kihara said, “Many gamblers go to casinos for the sole purpose of playing poker. If an international competition were held at an IR in Japan, it would attract a large number of people from the world through a synergic effect with tourism.”
Head of the Japan Casino School, Masayoshi Oiwane, has also come out in support of allowing poker to be exempted from the rules – dismissing suggestions the game is harder to manage than traditional casino games.
“It’s clear who the winner or loser is and it’s easy to control the flow of money,” he said.
The government is due to establish a new Casino Management Committee in the coming weeks who will make a final determination on what games would be allowed in Japan’s IRs.
