Japan Press Weekly

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2014 April 23 - May 6 [POLITICS]

JCP calls for support for gambling addicts and killing of bill to OK casinos

Japanese Communist Party lawmaker Daimon Mikishi on April 28 at a Diet meeting citing Welfare Ministry data called for the withdrawal of a bill to legalize casino businesses as it will increase patients with pathological gambling habits.

At the meeting of the House of Councilors Audit Committee, Daimon presented the 2008 survey results by the Welfare Ministry. It shows that while the prevalence rate of pathological gambling is less than 2% in most of western countries, 9.6% of adult Japanese men (older than 20 years of age) and 1.6% of adult women have problematic gambling habits. It means, Daimon added, there were 5.6 million people with gambling disorders in Japan.

Asked by Daimon what kind of measures are being taken to tackle gambling addiction, the Welfare Ministry in reply said that it does not have a program to provide pathological gambling patients with medical support.

The JCP lawmaker strongly criticized the bill that a pro-casino Dietmembers’ group submitted to the Diet. He called for the killing of the bill because it is “trying to lift a ban on casino gaming before taking measures to combat the problem of gambling addicts.”

Finance Minister Aso Taro admitted to the importance of providing help for people who are suffering from gambling problems and resultant multiple debts.

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Daimon at the same meeting criticized Aso for serving as a senior adviser to the Dietmembers’ group for the legalization of casino gambling.

Aso replied that he is stepping down from the position.