With online revenue now approaching billions of dollars a year, the question for Japanese affiliates and their foreign partner websites has only become more pressing: When might the government act to enforce the law against affiliates and users, or else legalise the segment? Within a few short years, Japanese traffic at foreign-based gambling websites has grown from tens of thousands of hits per day to almost 3m a day, testament to the illegal segment’s revenue potential amid the worst pandemic in a century. Is Japan's online casino sector getting too big for lawmakers to ignore? In this forensic explainer, VIXIO GamblingCompliance's contributing editor for Asia, Martin Williams, paints the picture of a booming Japanese online casino sector and explores evidence and legal expertise to understand how long this grey market can survive. Online gambling in Japan has enjoyed some of the most dramatic growth of any gambling sector anywhere in the world, but its era of operating in shadows with affiliate assistance and amid tenuous law enforcement may be nearing a turning point. Body A billion-dollar industry in the balance
