March 12, 2019

Bank automatic teller machines (ATM) will be removed from pachinko (Japanese pinball) parlors as part of countermeasures to tackle gambling addiction, the government announced on March 7.

Pachinko losers often rush to ATMs, which are installed inside pachinko parlors, to withdraw more money before they cool off, falling deep into a vicious cycle of habitual pachinko gambling.

At present, bank ATMs are installed in about 1,100 pachinko parlors or 10% of all pachinko arcades in Japan, which has been criticized for driving customers to spend excessive money on playing pachinko and feeding gambling addicts.

Akahata and several Japanese Communist Party Dietmembers have repeatedly taken up this issue for nearly a decade. Since its first report on the problem on November 12, 2009, Akahata has frequently run critical articles dealing with ATMs in pachinko parlors. In the Diet, JCP Daimon Mikishi in April 2015 and Tamura Tomoko in July 2018 demanded the removal of ATMs from pachinko facilities in Upper House committee meetings.

It is said that as many as 3.2 million people in Japan are suspected pathological gamblers. The government, the pachinko industry, and banking institutions have long stood idly by while placing priority on increasing their profits. Their responsibility should be called into question.

Past related article:
> Pachinko parlors with ATMs would exacerbate gambling addiction [January 19, 2015]