The highest rate is “25 times” the normal rate… Clever tricks seen inside a “backroom slot store in Kabukicho” that is operating illegally.

Kabukicho is the largest downtown area in Japan. It is and always has been crowded with a variety of illegal gambling parlors. One of them is a slot parlor. Illegal stores allow customers to play slots at much higher rates than at ordinary pachinko parlors, and they are also equipped with slot machines that have disappeared from pachinko parlors due to legal restrictions, as well as those with replaced boards, known as “Ura-ROMs.

According to Mr. F, an official at an under-the-hood slot parlor, there are several hurdles to overcome before entering the parlor.

‘It’s to avoid being caught by the police. Basically, you tell a Kabukicho catch that you want to go to the slots and he will guide you there, but security to enter the store is strict. It’s a system where the door doesn’t open until you ring the intercom and call to let the catch know you’ve brought a customer.”

The location is a room in a building. At first glance, it appears to be just a vacant tenant in a commercial building, but the shop operates quietly without a sign.

What we do before entering any store is to check identification. To prevent the police from infiltrating the building, they have to check your insurance card. If you cannot provide your insurance card here, you will not be allowed to enter the store” (Mr. F).

This is one of the ways to keep customers who cannot pay the insurance premiums and police officers out of the store.

And many stores also require that phone numbers be registered. This is to eliminate the hassle of re-entering the store and to be able to contact them immediately in the event of “something” happening.

One person who plays in the store reveals, “It’s often dimly lit in the store.

“Many of the stores are dimly lit. To make your stay comfortable, you can drink as much as you want, and if you run out of cigarettes, just ask the staff and they will buy you some. We run at a high rate, so it’s only natural that we do this. Besides, you can come and go as you please.”

It depends on the store, but the highest rate is 500 yen per medal. Considering that an ordinary slot machine costs 20 yen per medal, the high rate is understandable. Of course, there is no such thing as a three-store system, and only the amount of money you put in is charged to the machine, and the payout is immediately redeemed in cash.

You are free to come and go as you please, and you are not forcibly detained. If they run out of money, they tell the clerk they are leaving and can leave without incident. According to the clerk, the settings (the ratio of how much of the medals you spend on a game will be returned to you) are also better.

I try to put in the settings. It is thought that these stores are very reluctant to use settings, but in today’s Kabukicho, that is not the way to do it. That’s why we set the settings more leniently than at ordinary pachinko parlors. Even so, we are able to collect enough money.

If they don’t put in customers by making the settings a little lenient, they will lose customers. Unlike stores that proudly display signs and serve customers, once customers leave, they do not come back. If you register on the store’s line, you will be sent notices of the day’s events.

As for whether people who gamble illegally at illegal slot stores are all scary people, Mr. F. says that this is not the case.

It may come as a surprise to you, but the security of the stores is good. There are a few ruffians who come in once in a while, but they don’t yell or get angry. There are more like hosts who have money but don’t know how to spend it, or rich people who come here to kill time.

Mr. F has been watching this neighborhood for about a year and has never encountered any violent incidents. Since people enter the stores knowing that large sums of money will disappear, they are satisfied with the disappearance of a few hundred thousand yen.

It is said that there are currently about 10 backroom slot stores in Kabukicho, all of which are operated under almost the same system. This system is probably the result of a repeated game of “whichever side gets caught, gets caught again, and then a new store comes along.

Unlike pachinko parlors, which operate in accordance with the law, backstreet slot parlors are responsible for their own problems. It would be better to quit walking into a pachinko parlor just because you want to play that old favorite slot machine.