A panoramic view of the 샌즈카지노 inside the Marina Bay Sands Resort in Singapore. It is a large casino facility that houses slot machines, tables and restaurants.

As the "casino scandal" expands, it is emerging as the eye of a typhoon hitting Japanese political circles in 2020. As the names of lawmakers involved in the scandal are added every day, some even predict that the Japanese political landscape may change.

At the end of the New Year's holiday, Mikio Shimoji, a member of the conservative opposition party Japan Restoration Association, held a press conference on the 6th to admit that she received 1 million yen (about 10.75 million won) from the Chinese company 500.com, which tried to participate in the casino business.

However, Shimoji claimed that she received money from a Japanese adviser at and recognized it as a personal donation (provided by the Japanese). It is illegal to receive political funds from foreigners or foreign corporations under the Japanese Political Funds Act, but it is an attempt to avoid controversy over the violation of the Political Funds Act.

However, the public's response is chilly. The Tokyo District Prosecutors' Office is conducting an investigation after securing a statement that a Japanese adviser at gave 1 million yen each to Shimoji and four other Liberal Democratic Party members of the Liberal Democratic Party in 2017.

The Tokyo District Prosecutors' Office is conducting an all-out investigation into the political community on Dec. 25 last year, signaling the arrest of Tsukasa Akimoto, 48, a member of the Liberal Democratic Party, on charges of receiving 3 million yen (about 31.9 million won) in cash from .

Regarding the controversy over overlapping investment in the Saemangeum new airport construction project, Eom Myung-so, an aviation policy officer at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, said in a preliminary back briefing held on the 18th that "discussions are taking place regarding open

It is interpreted as a remark conscious of the complex resort development project, which is raised as a strong "Chinese medicine" aimed at boosting foreign investment, led by local lawmakers.

The Saemangeum Open Casino was triggered in 2016 when Kim Kwan-young of the Bareunmirae Party (Gunsan, North Jeolla Province) proposed a revision to the special law on the promotion and support of the Saemangeum project, which includes an open casino for Koreans to enter and exit.

In a policy debate on the Saemangeum Complex Resort Development Project held by Rep. Kim in May, claims were also reportedly made to be conscious of attracting open casinos. Some in the construction industry say that casino capital inflows are necessary to boost the sluggish development of Saemangeum.

Director Euh said, "By 2025, the license for Gangwon-do Jeongseon (Gangwon Land Casino) will be completed," and added, "We need to build a complex facility (including an open casino) in Saemangeum (for the demand for the new international airport)."

Japan has four casinos, he said. Don't we have to make three more?

Behind the casino scandal's expansion to the level where the names of the six incumbent lawmakers go up and down is the change in the Japanese gambling industry and the tightness of the political community.

Although not legally gambling, the huge Pachinko industry, which is virtually gambling, is the key link.

According to the "Lesser White Paper 2018" published by the Japan Productivity Headquarters, the Pachinko population stood at 9 million as of 2017, with sales reaching 19.54 trillion yen (about 211.47 trillion won).

It is about 3.7 percent of Japan's real GDP of 533.7 trillion yen as of 2018, more than three times the Japanese defense budget of 5.2574 trillion yen last year.

Pachinko turns a high score into a prize, not cash, if it gets a high score in the cassbet.com game, However, there are many cases where prizes can be exchanged for cash at gift exchanges, which are common next to Pachinko, which effectively has a strong gambling nature.

As the industry is large and on the borderline of legal and illegal, the Pachinko industry needs politicians as a protective shield.

In the political counseling roles of the Pachinko Chain Store Association, a Pachinko industry group, 22 members of the Liberal Democratic Party, seven members of the National Democratic Party, seven members of the Japan Restoration Association and four members of the Constitutional Democratic Party are listed.

Akimoto, who was arrested, has been deeply related to the Pachinko industry before. According to the Asahi Shimbun, Akimoto entered politics as a student secretary for Kobayashi Koki, a former Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker, in 1993 when he was a 21-year-old college student.