The Abe administration has begun exploring concrete rules to regulate the operation of casinos to follow up on a law enacted last year to legalize casinos. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Liberal Democratic Party meanwhile plans to submit legislation calling on the government to take steps to address gambling addiction, which the health ministry suspects may affect nearly 5 percent of adults. That is indeed a problem that needs to be tackled. But the effort must not end in a half-hearted measure to justify legalizing casinos despite concerns that it could fuel the gambling addiction.

The government and the LDP have pushed for introduction of integrated resorts (IR) that feature casinos as a key attraction for visitors, hoping that such facilities will help bring in more inbound tourists, generate jobs and demand in host areas and tax revenue for national and local governments. But when they hurriedly rammed the casino legislation through the Diet last December, calls for caution over the downside of such facilities, including the possible impact on gambling addiction and the risk that casinos could be used for money laundering by criminal organizations, were cast aside, with the proponents saying that those potential problems should be addressed when the government lays down the rules for casino operation.

The rules to be drafted by the government will likely include restrictions on customers' entry into casinos, measures against money laundering, as well as specifics on the state's use of revenue from casino operators. Based on the outcome of ongoing discussions at a panel of experts, the administration plans to propose legislation to the Diet this fall setting the standards on casino operations. A focus of the discussions will be on how tight the access to casinos should be restricted to prevent them from exacerbating gambling addictions. The mayor of the city of Wakayama, which has announced its bid to host an IR featuring casino, proposes that entry be limited to nonresidents as a solution.