A young Japanese boy has been referred to a child guidance center after gambling for months with his parents’ money. Officials said they were concerned by the growing problem of offshore casinos that don’t carry out proper ID checks.
Offshore Websites Remain Dangerous
The regulated gambling industry has become synonymous with customer protections. Gamblers who pick legal operators can expect to find robust ID checks and reliable safer gambling tools that allow them to moderate their playtime.
Conversely, offshore operators typically operate with no such considerations and often expose players to certain risks. However, in Japan, which has historically been very restrictive when it comes to gambling, online gambling is prohibited, causing some players to take the risk and play offshore.
This, unfortunately, is what happened to a 13-year-old boy from Kanagawa Prefecture who spent roughly $1,700 on gambling over several months.
The Teen Had Been Gambling for Months
According to the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), the youth had been gambling for over six months, first spending his allowance before starting to use his parents’ money. From January to July, he visited an offshore gambling website some 7,000 times, the police reported.
The boy admitted that he was playing on a smartphone that his parents had given him. He used PayPal to purchase Litecoin, which he used to wager on the website in question.
In interviews with officials, the boy said that he became interested in online gambling after watching news coverage on the topic. He was able to play for months since the online casino he chose did not require ID verification and allowed him to lie about his age.
In August, the boy was referred to a child guidance center. Police officials were concerned about the lax anti-minor gambling measures of offshore websites, which can cause significant harm to impressionable young people.
Japan Introduced New Laws to Prevent Such Incidents
As Japan’s struggles with online gambling continue, the country introduced new rules to take decisive action against actors who promote and administer iGaming and other illicit activities tied to the gambling industry.
In the meantime, a Tokyo court just sentenced a former bank manager to 9 years in prison after finding her guilty of stealing gold bars and cash worth nearly $2.6 million. According to reports, the woman was stealing due to the large debts she had accumulated via bets on horse racing and foreign currency trading.