SHIZUOKA (TR) – Shizuoka Prefectural Police have arrested six individuals, including a restaurant owner, for their roles in facilitating an illegal online casino operation, reports Jiji Press (Sep. 2).
The suspects include Ryuto Yamauchi, a 38-year-old restaurant operator from Hamamatsu City, and Ren Tanaka, a 29-year-old of no fixed address. Police have withheld whether the suspects have admitted to the allegations.
According to investigators, the group is accused of directing five customers to deposit approximately 6 million yen into bank accounts registered under third-party names managed by Yamauchi’s ring between late October and late November 2024. The customers were then provided credits to gamble on a smartphone application.
The syndicate operated with a highly organized structure. Tanaka and three others were allegedly tasked with running a dedicated customer service desk, handling user inquiries on how to operate the app and troubleshooting technical glitches.
While the online casino is believed to have been operated from overseas, it found a massive domestic audience. The platform was wildly popular for allowing users to gamble from the comfort of their own homes at their leisure, operating daily from noon until 10:00 a.m. the following morning.
At its peak, the app boasted a roster of up to 3,000 registered users. Police revealed that in just a single one-month period beginning in late October 2024, approximately 170 domestic users placed bets totaling a staggering 100 million yen.
