3.2m Japanese seen having experienced gambling addiction

September 30, 2017

TOKYO- Some 3.2 million people, or 3.6 percent of the total number of adults in Japan, are estimated to have experienced gambling addiction at least once in their lives, it was learned Friday.

The figure includes those who have not gambled for many years, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare said in an interim report of the national epidemiological survey.

The report also estimated that some 700,000 people, or 0.8 percent, are potential gambling addicts, from their behavior over the past year, seen showing the current situation more accurately.

Many of them may be addicted to "pachinko" pinball, the report said.

The gambling addiction issue gained publicity from discussions on so-called integrated resort promotion legislation to legalize casinos in Japan, which was enacted in December last year.

The number of people in the country who have experienced gambling addiction was estimated to be 5.36 million, or 4.8 percent, in a survey conducted in fiscal 2013.

The latest survey depicts the situation more accurately, said a health ministry official.

The interview survey, conducted by the National Hospital Organization Kurihama Medical and Addiction Center between May and June this year, covered 4,685 people aged between 20 and 74, or 46.9 percent of 10,000 randomly sampled people. It used the diagnosis table of a US medical foundation.

Adults who are suspected of having been gambling addicts at least once in their lives accounted for 6.7 percent of men and 0.6 percent of women. Of them, 78 percent spent the most on pachinko and a similar game.

The average age of those who are estimated to be potential gambling addicts from their behavior in the past year is 46.5. They spent some 58,000 yen on gambling on average a month, with 81 percent spending the most on pachinko and a similar game.

By comparison with other countries, the proportion of people suspected of being gambling addicts in the past year, at 0.8 percent, is lower than 1.9 percent of the United States and matches Britain's figure.

But Japan's share of those who are estimated to have been gambling addicts at least once in their lives, at 3.6 percent, is notably higher than other countries, including 0.2 percent in Germany and 1.9 percent in the Netherlands. Jiji Press