Japan's government plans to require operators of new casinos to report on customers who exchanged chips and cash worth ¥1 million ($9,500) or more as part of anti-money laundering measures, government sources said Thursday.
The government wants to address concerns that the casinos may be used for the purpose of money laundering and terrorist financing, ahead of plans to open them in "integrated resorts" — encompassing hotels, conference rooms, theaters and event facilities — to attract more foreign tourists to Japan.
It is planning to add related rules and regulations to legislation allowing casino gambling in Japan that is expected to be submitted to the current Diet session.
The new anti-money laundering measures will oblige casino operators to record the name, address and birth date of customers who bought or cashed in chips worth ¥1 million or more, and the date and times the transactions took place.
The information will be required to be reported to a casino management committee, set to be established by the government.
Similar requirements have been introduced overseas. Casino operators in the state of Nevada in the United States and in Singapore are obliged to report exchanges of roughly ¥1 million or more and about ¥800,000 or more, respectively, to the governments of those countries.