how japanese gamblers are worse off than australians
Gambling in Japan: Pachinko as a Loophole
In many countries, gambling is severely restricted. In Australia, for example, there are clear rules, and mainly state-owned companies are allowed to offer to gamble to the general public. Although this will change in 2022, it is difficult for private companies to get a foothold. One country where this is even stricter is Japan.
In the land of the rising sun, gambling is completely forbidden. To still the gambling urge of the Japanese population, some clever tricks, such as the game Pachinko, have been devised by Japanese companies.
Although this is not quite the intention, the Japanese government has left it at that time, especially since it brings in a lot of money. In this week’s casino news, we will tell you more about it.
What Kind of Game is Pachinko?
Pachinko has been around since the beginning of the last century. The game started as an arcade game. A game where you can have fun, but you can’t win anything. Over the years, it has evolved into the half-casino game it is today.
Pachinko most closely resembles a pinball machine without flippers. There are iron balls that you, as a gambler, can shoot into the machine via a mechanism. The ‘gambler’ can adjust the strength of the mechanism and thus exercise some influence on the course of the game.
There are many different versions of Pachinko, but most have a basis that somewhere in the ‘pinball machine’ there is a hole where you must try to get the ball into it. If you manage to do this, a pokie or video game starts in the center of the pokie machine. If you have a combination here, you win.
If the ball does not fall into the hole but instead sinks to the bottom of the pokie machine, you have no prize.
How do Gamblers Make Money with Pachinko?
This is where the cleverness of the Japanese Pachinko companies comes in. The prizes you win with Pachinko are often, like at the fair in Australia, coins with which you can buy something. Think of cuddly toys or gadgets. The more coins you have, the bigger the prizes you can pick.
Apart from these physical prizes, you can also buy a unique prize token with your coins. These tokens can then be sold for hard currency to a merchant who cannot be in the same building.
This way, you can win money playing Pachinko via a roundabout route and over two discs!
See a Day in the Life of a Pachinko Hall Employee
Pachinko is so popular that it generates more turnover in these halls than in the casinos of Macau, Las Vegas, and Singapore combined.
It accounts for more than 5% of Japan’s GDP, which is why it is permissible.
Want to see what a day of a Pachinko hall employee is like? There are a lot of videos of it to be found on the internet!