Home | Teaching Jobs in Japan | Acronyms in ELT | ELT Articles | Directory of Resources | Metric Conversion
Articles on Teaching English

TEFL Articles

Articles Related to Teaching English in Japan

 

New Online Casinos in Japan

The arrival of online casinos was in 1997, followed in the early 2000s by slow growth as the internet use gradually increased. Things picked up again in 2013 with the release of the first smartphones. But it wasn't until around 2017 that a real boom happened in this space. Today there are over 140 online casinos providing the service for Japanese players.

Recently, growth in the market sees around 5 new online casino sites launching in a typical month. The growing number of sites means that many players, especially those who don't want to have to learn the hard way, visit this website for the latest news and reviews.

Today there are over 140 online casinos providing the service for Japanese players.
Today there are over 140 online casinos providing the service for Japanese players.

Why new online casinos are being created

Online gambling is allowed by the Japanese Government only via the lottery, soccer toto and certain public sports (horse, boat and cycle racing) - these are the only types of betting activities currently legalized. So, the only way for Japanese players to access games offered in online casinos, such as poker and bingo games, is by using the websites of foreign operators.

For the last several years, Japan has been examining the potential for so-called 'integrated resorts' - hubs where people can not only gamble, but also attend concerts, go shopping, hold business conferences, with large numbers of hotels, restaurants, and so on. If the Japanese government permitted the construction of six such establishments in the country, it is estimated that integrated resorts could generate some $24 billion by 2030.

Meanwhile...

As online casinos boom globally and become a fast-growing industry, with the market expanding by the day, the natural intensifying competition for users is the reason behind the emergence of new online casinos.

In the early days of online casinos, the market was an oligopoly of a few well-established names. At that time, deposit methods and game assortment were still relatively unsophisticated, and as there was no competition, no improvements were made. Users were forced to settle for an inconvenient and limited gaming experience.

In fact, some of those old-style online casinos still remain as they were back then. They continue to operate only with the use of their old users. However, as technology develops and user expectations grow, new services are being created that are more convenient for users.

Evolution of deposit and withdrawal methods

Previously, web wallet services based overseas were the major means of depositing and withdrawing money from online casinos. However, these services charge fees for deposits and also for withdrawals. Today, there are many payment services that allow direct payment in Japanese yen, eliminating unnecessary fees.

Spread of Cryptocurrencies

The widespread use of crypto assets (cryptocurrencies) has also brought about a major change in payment methods. Although still highly volatile in value, more and more online casinos are supporting crypto assets such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Ripple for borderless and quick money transfers.

Increased Competition in Bonus Offers

Online casinos are truly booming right now. Operations are becoming more streamlined, and operators are beginning to have more resources to give back to their users.

The online casino bonus is the biggest weapon for casinos to win the hearts and minds of users. This is one of the reasons why new online casinos are competing with each other to see how much they can give back to their users.

Storytelling

"All online casino games are the same, aren't they?" To prevent users from becoming bored with sites, they are becoming more and more elaborate every year, with rankings increasing as users use the site, and users visually interacting with other users in a social game-like manner to increase user engagement.

Interface Improvements

The user interface of online casinos used to be very uninspiring. Although the games were being played by Japanese, the websites were created using machine translation, which made them virtually unintelligible. Nowadays, there is a lot of information that clearly explains the unique rules and methods of playing online, but once upon a time, it was extremely difficult to understand the rules if you could not read English.

Nowadays, each online casino business makes a real effort to translate their websites, and there are many services that provide easy-to-understand, natural Japanese.

Improved Support

As with the user interface, in the past, machine translation was used for dealing with questions and support for users who could only speak Japanese, and in some cases, there was no proper communication at all. Nowadays, the number of Japanese staff involved in the industry is increasing, and more and more online casinos are offering courteous and detailed support from Japanese staff when there are problems or questions.