Official language: Japanese
Population: 127,433,494
Currency: Japanese Yen (JPY)

Current Exchange Rate
1 EUR = 132.66 JPY
1 GBP = 142.29 JPY
1 USD = 89.99 JPY

Casinos in Japan
There are no legal casinos in Japan today. As of 1907, all casino gambling, and many other types of gambling, have been illegal throughout the country. Casino gambling was legal for a while during the Edo period (1603 to 1868), but was eventually banned when too many people starting developing addictions. Japan has many illegal casinos called "game kingdoms"; these are run by the Yakuza and are member-only clubs. The government of Japan is currently considering legalizing casino gambling.

The only legal type of game machines in Japan is pachinko. It is extremely popular and there are more than one million machines spread across 15,000 parlors in the country today. The game is kind of a cross between a slot machine and a pinball game. The games give prizes rather than money, but the prizes can be exchanged for money. The pachinko industry in Japan is said to dwarf the casino industry in Las Vegas up to five times.

Online Casinos in Japan
There are no online Japanese casinos either. Online gambling is prohibited in Japan, though there are not many measures taken to prevent players from accessing foreign casinos. More importantly, because online casinos are hosted in countries where the Japanese government has no jurisdiction, there is little they can do to prevent players from using them.

There are not that many internet casinos offered in Japanase language, but there are a few. These sites let players in Japan enjoy poker, craps, roulette, slots and other online casino games. The government in Japan is considering legalizing casinos, and if this happens, perhaps Japanese internet casinos will start to open. Until then, players can only use international online casinos.