The government and the ruling parties plan to propose a system that would allow pachinko parlors and other gambling facilities to ban “serious” gambling addicts, government sources said.

The problem of gambling addiction has drawn attention since Japan legalized casinos last year. The government believes building resorts with casinos and hotels will lure more tourists and lift the nation’s stagnating regional economies.

The government opened the door to casinos by enacting a law that legalized the use of so-called integrated resorts. The law took effect in December.

The government is now in the process of crafting a bill to dictate how the casinos should operate and hope to submit it to the extraordinary Diet session expected to be convened this fall.

Under the plan, only those who wish to overcome their problem, or their families, would notify nearby gambling facilities to ask that access be restricted.

If the facility operator recognizes the person’s addiction, it could ban entry, or ask the person to leave. And if the addiction was determined to be less serious, an operator could limit the number of visits allowed to the facility.

Addition level could also be judged through medical certification, the sources said Saturday.

The government and ruling parties want to have the outline of the system drafted by this summer, but the operators might oppose the move because it would hurt their take.

De facto gambling has been permitted at slot-machine and pachinko parlors for decades. Betting on publicly run horse, bicycle and powerboat races is also allowed.

Pachinko parlors would most likely express strong opposition because they are privately run. A person must be at least 18 to enter a pachinko parlor.

A government survey in March said that 2.7 percent of respondents reported experiencing some form of gambling addiction at some point in their lives. In proportion to the population, that corresponds to roughly 2.8 million people.

When respondents who acknowledged being addicts were asked to name the type of gambling in which they spent the most money, the greatest number named pachinko or hybrid pachinko-slot machines.

KEYWORDS gambling, pachinko, casinos