TOKYO (TR) – A source with the Tokyo Metropolitan Police has revealed to the Mainichi Shimbun (Feb. 15) that 10 male performers with the Yoshimoto Kogyo talent agency have been questioned over illegal online gambling.
Among those who were questioned on a voluntary basis were manzai stand-up comedians Kazunobu Kubota, 45, of the duo Toro Salmon and Kuruma Takahira, 30, of Reiwa Roman.
Kubota denied involvement. However, Takahira and others have generally admitted to illegal gambling. “It is true that I was playing online casinos. I was under the impression that it was not illegal, and so I was playing online casinos,” Takahira said on his YouTube channel on February 15.
Yoshimoto Kogyo learned about the matter after a third party submitted a tip.
Online casino gambling reportedly spread through word-of-mouth among performers, with some believed to have bet several million yen.
The casinos are operated from overseas. Law enforcement believes that the revenue from the operations is used funneled to criminal syndicates.
In 2024, the National Police Agency apprehended 279 suspects over involvement in online casinos. The figure is twice the total from the year before.
Earlier this month, it was learned that police were interviewing Yoshimoto Kogyo comedians about illegal wagering at overseas online casinos.
Not able customers are not limited to comedians. Orix Buffaloes pitcher Taisuke Yamaoka was questioned about playing in an online poker tournament. As well, table tennis player Koki Niwa received a summary indictment for involvement.
“Lost 13 million yen”
Nippon News Network (Feb. 18) spoke to a man who said that he started playing online casinos because he believed they were not illegal.
“The most I’ve lost in a day is about 13 million yen,” he told the network.
He went even played while at work.
“I opened the site and played whenever I got the chance,” he said. “The scariest thing is that it can be done 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.”
He said that he did not know it was illegal at the time.
“I believed what was said [on social media] that it was not illegal,” he said. “I think that false information has been rampant in the world for a long time.”
The man says he has now quit online casinos, but he racked up debts of about 70 million yen over two years.
“I thought it was scary that i had no sense of money,” he said. “It had become like a game, and if you have money, you can make transfers, so you can keep playing until you run out of money.”
“I deeply regret the inconvenience”
In his explanation on YouTube, Takahira also said that he was unaware of the illegality of wagering at online casinos. At the end of 2019, an acquaintance from his university days explained to him that “it is not illegal to play online casinos by transferring money from an overseas account.”
He also said that he “understood that it was not illegal” because there were advertisements for it on the internet at the time. He explained that he continued playing online casinos for about a year until the end of 2020.
“I deeply regret the inconvenience I have caused everyone. I am truly sorry,” Takahira said.
Yoichi Torihata, professor emeritus at Shizuoka University, studies issues surrounding online casinos.
“Games and gambling are becoming one, and the boundaries are gradually disappearing,” says professor Torihata. “Even if there is misleading advertising that makes it seem as though the site is legal, you should not trust it. You must be fully aware that accessing gambling sites and gambling within Japan is illegal. I think it is important to be fully aware that gambling and online casinos are dangerous and not get involved.”
