A UK-developed app that blocks online betting has been localised for Japanese users, multiple media outlets report. The new tool offers a way to curb gambling addiction as the country loosens its gaming laws.
The Japanese version of the Gamban app, which restricts access to gambling websites and apps across all a user’s devices, has been launched with support from the Society Concerned About Gambling Addiction – a Japanese nonprofit assisting people with gambling-related harm and their families.
While online casinos and online gambling-related advertisements are illegal in Japan, a National Police Agency-commissioned report estimates that 3.37 million people in Japan have wagered online, with around 2 million active users betting a combined ¥1.24 trillion (US$7.9 billion) annually.
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The country is also gearing up for its first Macao-style integrated resort, MGM Osaka, which is set to open in 2030. The project’s critics have warned that allowing bricks-and-mortar casinos to operate in Japan could increase crime rates and gambling addiction.
Gamban currently blocks more than 360,000 gambling-related domains and apps from devices, and adds around 300 new sites daily, according to co-founder Matt Zarb-Cousin. The software also tracks money and time saved by not gambling, and links users to support services. Nearly 500,000 people have registered globally, with over 100,000 active users.
Zarb-Cousin said the most challenging thing for his company was making its software difficult to remove, as gambling addicts can try to bypass it.
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In Japan, the Society Concerned About Gambling Addiction covers the app’s annual fee of about ¥5,250 (US$33.52) for users, though funding constraints limit how widely it can be offered. In several European countries and the US state of Ohio, the app is subsidised or provided free thanks to regulatory support from governments.
The society’s head, Noriko Tanaka, told the Japan Times that around 90 people had already signed up for Gamban – and attested to the app’s effectiveness.
“Once you get hooked to online casinos, it only takes about half a year to get to a point of not being able to quit,” Tanaka said. “The operators have enormous personal data at hand to profile individual customers, to keep them hooked.”
