Japan arrests man for gambling

[peter0425]

Japanese law enforcement has arrested a 38-year-old man in what is being called the largest individual online gambling case in the country’s history. The suspect, Makoto Chomabayashi, is accused of placing bets totaling 28 billion yen (approximately $194 million) through an international gambling website, far exceeding previous records for individual wagering activity in Japan.

At first, I was like what is the illegal part here? Yes he gambled huge amounts of money but there were no signs of money laundering. I was confused until it was mentioned that gambling is illegal in Japan. Gambling is generally banned in Japan with a few exceptions. Chomabayashi also acted as a casino affiliate using his social media accounts to refer users to the casino. He said that he did all of this since he thought that he would never get caught. But he was publicly working for an online casino so I do not know why he would think that he would not be caught by the authorities. It is ridiculous to me to be fined just for gambling but if that is the rules of your country.... you would have to follow.

If gambling was illegal in your country, would you still gamble?

[GreatArkansas]

I believe this is normal if they have a limit for each individual in Japan, even if you are not aware, the government has the right to arrest you.

So, if gambling were illegal in my country too, I wouldn't risk it, no matter how tempting the potential gains. Breaking the law, especially so openly, isn't worth the consequences.

[Charles-Tim]

If gambling was illegal in your country, would you still gamble?

Why the government should be the one to let me know if I should gamble or not? Luckily for me gambling is legal in my country. In countries that ban gambling, this is what will be the result. There will be some people that will do it illegally. Even in the Japan, there will be illegal gambling there.

[bitbollo]

if gambling is illegal there is always a reason (likewise in my countr some cases could be illegal due the illegal framework or laundering laws...

in this specific case, it would be interesting at this point see what if will be (if any) the sanction. mabe he can leave everything with few months of prison and a fine?
at least to me seems not clare what is the issue here. advertising other casino? just playing in a non regulated hence unofficial website?
or the problem was just leaded by high volume (with no taxes)?

[condoras]

It is ridiculous to me to be fined just for gambling but if that is the rules of your country.... you would have to follow.
If gambling was illegal in your country, would you still gamble?

To start, more than a lot of laws in all the countries sound or are ridiculous. But if it's what it is, then you can't do anything. Either you will follow them or you will become an outlaw. IMO and specifically for gambling, it isn't worth the risk. You can be in a bigger mess like the guy that you mentioned. I wouldn't gamble in places that will have the risk of getting caught, but among a small company of friends, I probably would.

[robelneo]

If gambling was illegal in your country, would you still gamble?

The government will not ban something like gambling without a commission that oversees violators will face legal consequences, so if gambling is prohibited in one's country, we should respect that, or face a fine or imprisonment.
I feel sorry for the guy that was huge money to be forfeited for playing illegally. The lesson here is never think that you are not going to get caught, because you will be.  

[Aanuoluwatofunmi]

Japanese law enforcement has arrested a 38-year-old man in what is being called the largest individual online gambling case in the country’s history. The suspect, Makoto Chomabayashi, is accused of placing bets totaling 28 billion yen (approximately $194 million) through an international gambling website, far exceeding previous records for individual wagering activity in Japan.

At first, I was like what is the illegal part here? Yes he gambled huge amounts of money but there were no signs of money laundering. I was confused until it was mentioned that gambling is illegal in Japan. Gambling is generally banned in Japan with a few exceptions. Chomabayashi also acted as a casino affiliate using his social media accounts to refer users to the casino. He said that he did all of this since he thought that he would never get caught. But he was publicly working for an online casino so I do not know why he would think that he would not be caught by the authorities. It is ridiculous to me to be fined just for gambling but if that is the rules of your country.... you would have to follow.

If gambling was illegal in your country, would you still gamble?

If you will gamble in a country where gambling is illegal, then you ha e to appear anonymous by using na gambling platform that does not require for the use of KYC so that you can't be traced, don't also deposit from an exchange to that platform.

If the law forbids gambling, then try to protect yourself by not gambling or you should learn to do it privately, while considering this case, the amount of money involved is too much as well as the way it was known to the public what he did, it's better we know what's good for us and how to run after it.

[giammangiato]

Japanese law enforcement has arrested a 38-year-old man in what is being called the largest individual online gambling case in the country’s history. The suspect, Makoto Chomabayashi, is accused of placing bets totaling 28 billion yen (approximately $194 million) through an international gambling website, far exceeding previous records for individual wagering activity in Japan.

At first, I was like what is the illegal part here? Yes he gambled huge amounts of money but there were no signs of money laundering. I was confused until it was mentioned that gambling is illegal in Japan. Gambling is generally banned in Japan with a few exceptions. Chomabayashi also acted as a casino affiliate using his social media accounts to refer users to the casino. He said that he did all of this since he thought that he would never get caught. But he was publicly working for an online casino so I do not know why he would think that he would not be caught by the authorities. It is ridiculous to me to be fined just for gambling but if that is the rules of your country.... you would have to follow.

If gambling was illegal in your country, would you still gamble?

Playing is not essential to survival, it is just a form of entertainment!
If my country forbids it, I don't risk getting caught for gambling, I'd rather leave it alone.
Everything changes if you interpret gambling as a constant source of income or a job and therefore you would easily risk getting caught because you have the possibility of earning.

[$crypto$]

Wonder!!! Japan is illegal for gambling? Isn't gambling legal in that country? Because I saw some online casino X pages that are in Japanese which means it's legal there ---- that's all I know.
I don't know if there are gambling restrictions that are prohibited by the government, but for me this is a little strange.

Still gambling, but in a hidden way.

[rachael9385]

Japanese law enforcement has arrested a 38-year-old man in what is being called the largest individual online gambling case in the country’s history. The suspect, Makoto Chomabayashi, is accused of placing bets totaling 28 billion yen (approximately $194 million) through an international gambling website, far exceeding previous records for individual wagering activity in Japan.

At first, I was like what is the illegal part here? Yes he gambled huge amounts of money but there were no signs of money laundering. I was confused until it was mentioned that gambling is illegal in Japan. Gambling is generally banned in Japan with a few exceptions. Chomabayashi also acted as a casino affiliate using his social media accounts to refer users to the casino. He said that he did all of this since he thought that he would never get caught. But he was publicly working for an online casino so I do not know why he would think that he would not be caught by the authorities. It is ridiculous to me to be fined just for gambling but if that is the rules of your country.... you would have to follow.

If gambling was illegal in your country, would you still gamble?

I wonder why people would go through the stress of gambling in their country if it has been publicly banned, gambling isn't a source of income so if it becomes illegal in my country I wouldn't even stress over it. But I'm surprised that this is illegal in Japan when a lot of crime goes on over there. If he was working for an online casino then how did he think getting caught would be impossible, I guess he didn't think it through

[Franctoshi]

Japanese law enforcement has arrested a 38-year-old man in what is being called the largest individual online gambling case in the country’s history. The suspect, Makoto Chomabayashi, is accused of placing bets totaling 28 billion yen (approximately $194 million) through an international gambling website, far exceeding previous records for individual wagering activity in Japan.

At first, I was like what is the illegal part here? Yes he gambled huge amounts of money but there were no signs of money laundering. I was confused until it was mentioned that gambling is illegal in Japan. Gambling is generally banned in Japan with a few exceptions. Chomabayashi also acted as a casino affiliate using his social media accounts to refer users to the casino. He said that he did all of this since he thought that he would never get caught. But he was publicly working for an online casino so I do not know why he would think that he would not be caught by the authorities. It is ridiculous to me to be fined just for gambling but if that is the rules of your country.... you would have to follow.

If gambling was illegal in your country, would you still gamble?

So far I reside in a country that gambling is banned ,I will definitely abide by the rules and regulations of the country, why would I go against the law of the country knowing fully well that can land me in jail. But I can only risk gambling if it were to be that is the only chance of survival in my country but which it isn't. It's better to avoide than spending some precious years in jail, it is not a place one should even think of spending a day.

[YOSHIE]

If gambling was illegal in your country, would you still gamble?

In general, gamblers do not care in their country illegal or legal, dealing with the law or not, what else has been addicted to heavy, they still gamble there are no obstacles for them.

Including me in general, my country is illegal gambling, but the current data is millions of dollars per day spent in Online Gambling and Data There are currently mostly youths involved online gambling, gambling still caught on the road, but not obstacles not to gamble.

[Ruttoshi]

If gambling was illegal in your country, would you still gamble?

I would still gamble using VPN for the fun but not to do it openly and feel that the government wouldn't know. That's the most dumb thing to think of. The gambler violated the law twice. Firstly, he was involved in gambling which was illegal in Japan.

Secondly, he used a very huge amount of money to gamble when he knows that there's a limited amount which you can use to gamble at once and attracted more attention to him. It's good that we are law abiding citizens and don't involve in illegal activities as if it's nothing because nobody is above the law.

[Mr. Magkaisa]

If gambling was illegal in your country, would you still gamble?

I will never take a risk to gamble if it is illegal. Here in the country where i am, gambling is legal actually we are number 1 in Asia with number of casino in the country.
But the Government officials and workers are not legal to gamble in any casino here and punishable by law since Duterte became the president.
Well it is one basic reason for having a corruption for any human being that is sitting in the governtment.

[cabron]

Even if its legal, I wouldn't wager that much of money to gamble but this Chombayashi seem very rich in Japan so its all up to him. He was caught though. There are lots of places where he could stay and gamble why stay in Japan where its illegal. He could do some places if he really wanted to enjoy gambling. But I'm guessing the authorities are looking for some funds and authorities are actively using its lenses to find violators of the law.  If their government isn't experiencing bad economy, they might just let this pass.

[Aanuoluwatofunmi]

The man arrest should not be base on the amount of money he spent on gambling, but if they are going to be justifiably on this, it has to be on the ground of being against the law to gamble in Pakistan, there are many people that have been gambling and using huge amount of money to do so and nothing happens to them, even when the government are aware of it, because it is the gambler's money and has rights to do as he pleases with it, without being questioned by somehow on how he spent his money, it's wrong according to the law, while government are wrong if the basis for his arrest was because of the huge amount of money involved.

[Mpamaegbu]

At first, I was like what is the illegal part here? Yes he gambled huge amounts of money but there were no signs of money laundering. I was confused until it was mentioned that gambling is illegal in Japan. Gambling is generally banned in Japan with a few exceptions.

Your titled topic made me wonder why anyone would be arrested for gambling if it weren't on the grounds of money laundering until I read through. Honestly, I thought Japan was a gambling nation. He knew his country forbade it, while do it then? According to the report — "The suspect allegedly admitted to these activities and was quoted telling police that he knew online gambling was illegal in Japan but assumed the chances of being prosecuted were low." So, he deserved what came to him then.

If gambling was illegal in your country, would you still gamble?

Once there's a law against a thing in the country, it's best not to break such a law. The only way I can gamble if it's banned in my country is if I travelled out of my country. If I'm so much fixated on gambling, I would find another country that doesn't frown at gambling and move over there. It will be a crime to intentionally want to break laws.

[qwertyup23]

At first, I was like what is the illegal part here? Yes he gambled huge amounts of money but there were no signs of money laundering. I was confused until it was mentioned that gambling is illegal in Japan. Gambling is generally banned in Japan with a few exceptions.

There's actually a circumvention to their law regarding the illegality of gambling, which is..- pachinko.

I watched a YouTube video outlining the general overview of pachinko and on how it is treated as the "gambling" of Japan. I agree, their laws are very strict about the implementation of their gambling laws which makes it nearly impossible to gamble at their country (with a 99% conviction rate).

If anyone is curious about Pachinko, here is the link to the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tBy2jemw4s

If gambling was illegal in your country, would you still gamble?

Definitely not! There's a reason on why laws are implemented regarding the legality and illegality of gambling as a whole.

Remember that laws are implemented in order to regulate a certain activity. Additionally, when laws are created, there are penal sanctions corresponding to each crime you committed which makes it difficult to do anything about it.

[Marykeller]

If gambling was illegal in your country, would you still gamble?

What is illegal in your country should be avoided at all cause. Whosever that does otherwise, neglecting the government's stands on gambling to be illegal is attracting negative consequences on their side and they stand a chance to be arrested by the government, they should blame themselves for it.

Nobody can resist the government's arrest when they do what is against the country's constitution.

[swogerino]

I would never gamble in my country physically if it was illegal, also in my country gambling is so far illegal from some years now though most people I see in coffee shops and ex lotto pubs that they keep playing by using alternative links of Bet365 for example, also many of the crypto users like me play in casinos that the state does not know that they exist or are not as popular in the country as to warrant a ban against them. So yes I keep playing in all major casinos and sport bookies that do not have the word "bet" in their name of their website like the casino in my signature or other similar ones. Anyway in the context of the story the person already knew and the fact that he didn't care because he thought he would never get caught, I am not defending him, he should not have wagered near 200 million dollars and think that he would go unnoticed, lots of tax evasion I guess in here.