In the smoky Maruhan gambling parlor near Shinjuku Station in Tokyo, Shunichiro Nagasawa feeds a ¥1,000 bill into a pachinko machine, helping Japan's biggest gaming industry beat the recession and Las Vegas.
"It's exciting — usually, after I lose many times, I win big the next time," said Nagasawa, a 29-year-old systems engineer, pushing a button and watching hundreds of small steel balls pour down through the machine. "I do worry about the economy, but I still have a job."
As the economy shrank at an annual 12.1 percent pace in the last quarter and revenue slumped at Las Vegas casino companies like MGM Mirage and Las Vegas Sands Corp., the ¥23 trillion pachinko industry is on a roll.