Exploring Casino Schools in Japan

Despite Japan’s anti-gambling laws, Masayoshi Oiwane kept his hopes up that this will eventually change. Envisioning the rise of the gambling industry in his country, he established Japan’s first casino school.

Japan Casino School (JCS) is the first exclusive casino dealing school in Japan that trains its students to become top-class croupiers. The school not only delves into the intricacies of being a dealer, but it also imparts knowledge about customer service and hospitality.

Since its establishment in 2004, JCS has seen over 800 graduates who’ve spread out all over the world to serve punters of different nationalities. As owner Masayoshi Oiwane said in his school’s official Mission Statement page, they aim ‘to provide the hospitality industry with a sound and steady foundation for growth through [their] graduates.’ Their curriculum reflects this mission, with lessons on casino hospitality being taught aside from basic table skills.

Peeking Inside Japan Casino School

JCS boasts graduates that are well-equipped with proper knowledge on table games such as Blackjack, Mini-Baccarat, and Roulette. Trained to accommodate foreign customers, they are also able to converse smoothly in English with sufficient skills in international casino culture and hospitality up in their sleeves.

The school’s education program lasts from 3 months to over one year. Over the course of their education, JCS students learn all about basic casino skills such as shuffling, sizing, and drop cutting. Their lessons on Roulette, Blackjack and Mini-Baccarat focus on American and European rules that are more popular in the industry. 

Another integral part of the curriculum is Casino Hospitality. The graduates of JSC are envisioned to work not only in the gambling industry but also in the hospitality industry that caters to people all around the globe. In line with this, the graduates should have the proper skills when handling customers from varied demographics. 

Japan’s Relationship With Gambling

For the longest time, the Japanese government has banned casinos from operating in the country. Despite the ban, locals and tourists alike enjoy other forms of legal betting such as horse racing, car racing, and bicycle racing. Pachinko, a game that resembles slot machines, is highly popular all over the country that you’ll hear the tinkling of pachinko balls in almost every street. 

This changed, however, when the government passed legislation in 2016 that made the casino industry legal again after decades. Due to Japan’s gambling problem that resulted in the ban on casinos, everything will be highly-regulated. The government passed only 3 ‘integrated resorts’ to be built by 2025. 

Anticipating the large influx of money that these integrated resorts will bring, 8 different cities in Japan vie for the limited slots. This would increase tourism in their area and with Japan’s heightened interest in electronic games, locals would flock to these resorts. 

Some of the cities that announced their interest in bidding are highly populated prefectures such as Osaka, Wakayama, and Nagasaki Prefectures. Metropolitan areas and popular tourist spots showed interest in bidding for IRs. These include Hokkaido, Tokyo, and Yokohama.

However, activists left and right have expressed their concern about this legislation believing that this will only worsen the country’s gambling addiction. In a 2017 government survey, it’s revealed that an estimated number of 3.2 million Japanese are addicted to gambling.

Because of this alarming rate of gambling addicts, the government passed the legislation with strict rules. Locals can only visit 10 times per month and they need to pay a hefty amount of 6,000 Yen for the entrance fee.

Is Japan The Next Macao?

People like Oiwane see Integrated Resorts (IR) as the beginning of a brighter future for Japan. For starters, these integrated resorts will provide thousands of jobs for Japanese people, specifically the students he has been training for decades in Japan Casino School. With its strict regulations, they can even combat the problem of gambling addiction, not with absolute prohibition but with regulated use. 

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