A bill to promote the establishment of “integrated resorts” featuring casinos in Japan and championed by its backers as a “trigger for regional promotion” is set to pass the current Diet session. However, there are strong worries in Japan’s psychiatric community that legalizing casinos will also result in more gambling addicts.
The bill contains a provision requiring the government to “prevent those entering casinos from taking in any bad influences,” but there are no concrete measures listed to accomplish that. Furthermore, much treatment for addiction is still at the research phase, and most patients have no connection with medical institutions that could help them.
In 2013, a Ministry of Health,…
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