Legislation that would allow the opening of so-called integrated resorts that contain casinos was passed by the House of Representatives on Tuesday, but many areas of contention remain, such as how to limit the casinos' size.
The Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan and other opposition parties plan to continue their resistance in the House of Councillors.
During debate before the bill was approved by a plenary session of the lower house, Akio Fukuda of the CDPJ enumerated what he saw as the bill's problems and severely criticized the legislation.
"It will destroy the country and plunge the people into misery. It's not a feasible growth strategy," he said.
In response, Seiji Kihara of the LDP argued that the bill would "act as a primer for new growth and business."
Restrictions on casino floor area was one of the issues that was debated in the lower house's Cabinet Committee.
According to the government, it wants to issue an ordinance that would limit the area taken up by gaming tables, slot machines and other parts of a casino to no more than 3 percent of an integrated resort's total area.
Because larger resorts could have larger casinos, "Some of the biggest casinos in the world could be built," Fukuda said.
Initially, the government proposed limiting the area to 3 percent or 15,000 square meters, whichever was smaller.
When the CDPJ and others asked why the 15,000-square-meter standard had been eliminated, a Cabinet Secretariat official responded, "At this stage we don't know where integrated resorts will be built, so it's difficult to put exact numbers in the regulations."
Another issue has been whether to allow operators to lend money. Lending is not allowed for horse racing, bicycle racing and other forms of publicly operated gambling, for fear it would encourage gambling addiction.
The government has said it envisions lending being for foreign tourists, with Japanese customers having to provide some kind of deposit.
However, operators could loan customers amounts that exceed their deposits, which "could saddle people with multiple debts and encourage gambling addiction," said Tetsuya Shiokawa of the Japanese Communist Party.
Criticism has also been aimed at the nature of a "casino supervisory committee," which is to oversee casino businesses, as an external organ of the Cabinet Office.
The criticism arose because during a June 8 meeting of the Cabinet Committee, Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Minister Keiichi Ishii, who is overseeing the integrated resort issue, said that staff for the secretariat of the committee could be recruited from casino operators.
The content of 331 items that would be stipulated in ordinances and other regulations, which would not need Diet approval, has also not been revealed in deliberations in the Diet.
These comprise 58 items in government ordinances, 44 in tourism ministry ordinances and 229 in casino supervisory committee regulations.
The rule limiting casinos to no more than 3 percent of the resort's area would also be set by government ordinance, which raises doubts over the government's explanation that these are merely "specialist and technical items."
The legislation "is opposed by a large majority of the public," CDPJ Secretary General Tetsuro Fukuyama said at a press conference on Tuesday, vowing that the ruling bloc would be questioned closely by opposition parties in the upper house.
Komeito united
Komeito members voted to approve the integrated resort bill in the lower house on Tuesday.
The party allowed members to vote freely in December 2016 on a bill to promote integrated resorts that lifted the ban on casinos. About one-third of its lawmakers opposed that bill.
For this bill, Komeito required members to adhere to the party's decision. Except for Shigeyuki Tomita, who was absent due to medical treatment, 28 members voted in favor.
"Trying to pass [legislation] is the responsibility of the government and ruling parties," Komeito leader Natsuo Yamaguchi said at a press conference.
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