Public-managed gambling has long provided regional administrative bodies with profits from horse, bicycle and speedboat racing, money that helped them carry out postwar reconstruction and develop and improve infrastructure.
However, the proceeds transferred to the coffers of local governments and municipalities have been on the decline, driving some of them to close to falling under the control of the state in the management of local financial affairs.
Public-run gambling, in other words, is becoming a burden for some local entities.
Naruto, Tokushima Prefecture, is a city with a population of about 60,000. The municipality's finances have shriveled since 1999, when the amount of money it received from local speedboat racing dropped sharply.