Underage online gambling rising in Japan
A rising number of minors, including high school students, are gambling online in Japan, with reports of underage individuals turning to fraud to feed their addiction.
According to The Japan News, the Metropolitan Police Department in Tokyo recently arrested a 15-year-old high school student from Sendai for defrauding a man of JPY1.34 million (US$8,687)1 JPY = 0.0065 USD
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Investigators said the boy started gambling online in junior high school after being drawn in by social media posts promising easy profits. He reportedly deceived over 30 men by posing as a female college student, using the proceeds for online betting.
Police said many minors are bypassing credit card restrictions by purchasing cryptocurrency illegally from unregistered sellers.
The Metropolitan Police Department has reported 15 individuals aged between 13 and 21 in ten regions for habitual gambling, including a 13-year-old who began gambling in elementary school.
A National Police Agency survey estimated that 3.37 million Japanese individuals have used online casinos, around 180,000 of whom were aged 10 to 19. Nearly 70% of these young gamblers admitted recognizing their addiction.
Showa Medical University Associate Professor Toshiaki Tsuneoka said, “Because online gambling is conveniently accessible with just a smartphone, there are fears that children may become increasingly addicted to gambling without their parents realizing it. More efforts are needed to publicize that people can overcome addiction through treatment at medical institutions and participation in self-help groups.”
This comes after Japan’s parliament banned online casino advertising in June.
Charlotte Capewell brings her passion for storytelling and expertise in writing, researching, and the gambling industry to every article she writes. Her specialties include the US gambling industry, regulator legislation, igaming, and more.
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The Backstory
Why the youth gambling surge matters now
Reports of minors in Japan slipping past age checks to wager online are not happening in a vacuum. Police data and academic warnings have converged with a quickening policy response aimed at cutting off advertising, payments and offshore access. The current wave of cases involving teens using crypto and social media to bet underscores how the market evolved faster than domestic rules and industry safeguards. It also crystallizes a wider shift in Asia and beyond: regulators are moving from public-awareness campaigns to enforcement that targets the supply chain of illegal platforms.
Japanese authorities have been tracking the scale for months. Surveys cited by police estimated millions of residents had tried online casinos, with hundreds of thousands of users under 20. Those figures — and a spate of high-profile cases — set the stage for Parliament’s midyear action and a coordinated government push to pressure foreign hubs that host sites in Japanese. The stakes are high: officials argue the longer minors can gamble via phones, the harder it becomes to unwind addiction and the easier it is for fraud and other crimes to escalate.
From warnings to bans: Tokyo tightens the rules
Japan’s first major turn of the screw came with a legislative update approved in June and timed to take effect in early fall. Lawmakers outlawed the promotion of offshore gambling to Japanese users and empowered platforms to take down content that steers traffic to those sites. The measure expressly banned the operation of online casino apps in Japan as well as the use of ranking or recommendation pages to funnel players abroad. It did not create new criminal penalties, but by clarifying the legal status of ads it gave internet providers and social networks clearer grounds to remove posts. That step was outlined in coverage of how Parliament banned advertising and promotional content that directs people to overseas online casinos, including banners and social media links.
Regulators followed with broader implementation guidance and a public focus on how marketing influences youth behavior. A related update, effective Sept. 25, tightened restrictions on illegal online gambling and put celebrity endorsements in the crosshairs after a series of investigations involving entertainers. The framework aimed to keep offshore brands off YouTube and social platforms in Japan and pressed national and local agencies to step up education on addiction risks. Those changes were detailed when Japan brought a law to curb gambling addiction into force on Sept. 25, with officials citing industry estimates that billions of dollars flow to offshore sites annually.
Together, the measures mark a pivot from messaging to market disruption. By constraining advertising pathways inside Japan, officials are betting that fewer teens will encounter gambling promotions and that operators will find it harder to grow brand awareness in the country.
Choking access across borders
Because most Japanese-facing casinos are licensed abroad, domestic law alone cannot shutter them. That jurisdiction gap drove Tokyo to look overseas. In parallel with the ad ban, the government opened talks with a roster of countries and territories where many sites are registered or hosted. The outreach asked regulators to prevent Japanese users from accessing platforms that present in Japanese, highlighting that some sites reported most of their traffic comes from Japan. Authorities have also targeted payment agents and affiliates that market or route funds for offshore operators.
The diplomatic and enforcement strategy was described when Japan asked eight countries and territories to help block casino access, including Canada, Malta, Georgia and the Isle of Man. An analysis of 40 Japanese-language casino sites found all were licensed somewhere abroad, with a large share tied to Caribbean registrations, and only a handful explicitly barred Japanese users. By seeking foreign cooperation and squeezing intermediaries at home, Tokyo is constructing a two-front campaign aimed at both visibility and viability of the market.
That approach also provides political cover: even without extraterritorial authority, Japan can show progress by pressing hosts to adopt geo-blocks or compliance measures, while signaling to domestic platforms and influencers that amplification of offshore casinos carries new risks.
Regional signals: enforcement is getting sharper
Japan’s crackdown is part of a broader pattern in Asia where governments are testing how quickly they can move from policy design to results. In Bangladesh, police invoked a new cyber law to run a nationwide sweep against agents tied to online betting, one of the first major actions under the updated ordinance. Authorities said they had identified more than 1,000 intermediaries, notified the central bank and warned of criminal penalties including potential jail time and hefty fines. The message targeted young users and the social harms linked to illegal gambling, while inviting the public to report suspicious apps and sites. That escalation was laid out when Bangladesh launched an online gambling crackdown under the Cyber Security Ordinance 2025 Act.
The Bangladesh move differs from Japan’s ad-focused approach but rhymes in intent: both aim to reduce access points that enable underage play — marketing funnels in Japan, payment and agent networks in Bangladesh. For parents and schools, it means the regulatory perimeter is tightening across multiple fronts, raising the odds that minors will face more friction when attempting to sign up, deposit or find new sites.
Global pressure to protect minors
Beyond Asia, lawmakers are zeroing in on age verification and promotions. In Argentina, a provincial push seeks to require biometric identity checks for online betting accounts and to rein in advertising across social and traditional media. The measure, bundled with a dozen similar bills focused on youth addiction, reflects concern from local officials who found a high share of students had gambled online at least once. Even as the legislative package has stalled in committees and the Senate, its backers continue to press for action, including via public petitions designed to raise the political cost of inaction. That campaign was captured when an Argentinian lawmaker launched a petition to support underage gambling prevention.
For Japan, these international currents reinforce the case for layered safeguards. Stronger age-gating tools, curbs on influencer marketing and a clearer line on affiliate accountability are emerging as common denominators. As lawmakers weigh next steps, outcomes abroad — from Bangladesh’s police-led sweeps to Argentina’s proposed biometric checks — offer templates that could be adapted to local legal and cultural constraints.
What to watch next
Three factors will determine whether Japan’s measures dent underage gambling: enforcement of the ad ban by platforms, cooperation from foreign regulators and the effectiveness of cutting off payments and promotion inside the country. Early indicators will include the volume of takedown requests, the responsiveness of hosting jurisdictions and whether illicit operators migrate to new channels or double down on crypto and private messaging.
If ad volume falls and cross-border access narrows, pressure may shift toward treatment and school-based prevention. Officials have already emphasized the need for broader awareness of clinical support and peer groups. The policy arc — from ad bans to international coordination — suggests the government’s next tools could include clearer liability for affiliates and stronger mandates for age verification, mirroring moves under debate in other markets. For families and educators, the immediate reality remains unchanged: a smartphone still puts casino-style products within reach. The test for policymakers is how fast that window can be narrowed — and whether the system can keep up with minors who have already learned to work around it.
