Osaka trio held in US$35mln launder case tied to online bets

Sep 13, 2024 Newsdesk Japan, Latest News, Top of the deck  

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Authorities in Osaka prefecture, a Japanese community scheduled to have a legal land-based casino resort by 2030, say they have arrested three people on allegations of laundering money from 10,000 people who took part in overseas-based online gambling.

The Jiji Press news agency reported that Osaka Prefectural Police indicated a total of JPY4.9 billion (US$34.8 million) had been paid in aggregate into bank accounts held by the three suspects.

Those detained were identified as Yukiko Han, a 41-year-old company executive living in Osaka; Yuya Santanda, a 40-year-old company executive living in Takatsuki, Osaka prefecture; and Hatsuyo Kinoshita, a 40-year-old company executive living in the city of Osaka.

According to the prefectural police, the JPY4.9 billion – which included gambling bets placed with an overseas online casino called Yous Casino – was amassed via inbound payments on more than 140,000 occasions between March 2022 and June 2023.

The three suspects – each running a company of their own – allegedly disguised the money as legitimate business revenue, according to Jiji Press.

The report said that circa JPY2.9 billion, of the JPY4.9 billion, was paid back to gambling participants as winnings. The remaining JPY2 billion was casino operator profit, and 1.5 percent to 2.0 percent of that, went to the three now detained.

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