The city and prefectural authorties in Japan’s Osaka plan to launch a “gambling addiction countermeasures” centre there in 2029, the calendar year prior to the scheduled late-2030 launch of MGM Osaka, the country’s first integrated resort (IR) with casino.
The site of the anti-addiction centre is still to be decided, according to a Wednesday report in Japanese news outlet the Nikkei Shimbun. It did not mention the source of the information.
Per the report, the facility will offer support for individuals and their families, including intervention and treatment services relating to gambling addiction. It will also train medical personnel in working with those with gambling issues.
The report said the Osaka authorities would launch, from April this year, trial consultation services to connect gambling addicts and their families to lawyers and private support organisations online.
The plan for establishing the centre is stipulated in Osaka’s prefecture’s “basic ordinance for countermeasures regarding gambling addiction”. That was approved by the Osaka prefectural assembly in October 2022, and enacted from late November in the same year.
