Japan’s House of Representatives passed a bill to impose a ban on opening and operating online casino websites in the country.
The lower chamber of parliament cleared the bill to revise a law on tackling gambling addiction by a majority vote.
The revision, which prohibits websites from guiding users to casino sites, came amid recent revelations of the use of virtual casinos by a number of athletes and celebrities.
According to a police survey released in March, 3.37 million people in Japan are estimated to have gambled at online casinos, with around 1.24 trillion yen (about 8.7 billion U.S. dollars) being spent annually.
Gambling is illegal in Japan even if an online casino is operating legally overseas. The revised law is expected to be enacted during the current parliamentary session through June 22.
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