Each guide answers one question completely and stops. They are written to be read once, before a decision, rather than to be browsed.
The set covers three areas: the Japanese legal and tax position, the money — how it moves, what it costs to move and why a withdrawal waits — and the games themselves, from the meaning of a return percentage to the difference between a live table and its automated twin.
Photo: Shixart1985 — CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Pachinko is regulated as entertainment and never pays cash inside the parlour; an online slot pays a cash balance and falls under the gambling articles. How the two differ in practice.
Betting from inside Japan is an offence for the player, and since 25 September 2025 advertising overseas casino sites is banned too. What remains legal.
Winnings count as temporary income: total, minus the expenses that produced them, minus the 500,000 yen deduction, then halved. The filing threshold and the two exempt cases.
Horse, bicycle, motorboat and auto racing, the football lottery and the national lottery — who runs each, where they are sold and how the winnings are taxed.
Japan’s first integrated resort is due in autumn 2030 on Yumeshima. Residents face an identity check, a 6,000 yen entry fee per 24 hours and hard limits on visits.
Card networks tag gambling merchants, so a decline repeats no matter how often the card is retried. Transfers settle slower but carry a name that must match.
Japan rules
Japan rules
Japan rules
Japan rules
Japan rules
Payments
Payments
Payments
Payments
Payments
Games and odds
Games and odds
Games and odds
Games and odds
Games and odds
Safer play
Safer play