How Comedians Like Reiwa Roman’s Kuruma Takahira Fueled the Growth of Online Casinos

They mistakenly perceived it as not being illegal

The online casino scandal has sent shockwaves through the entertainment industry.

On February 15, M-1 champion Reiwa Roman updated their YouTube channel, where Kuruma Takahira (30) admitted to engaging in online casino gambling and issued an apology. On the 19th, he announced:

“In order to take this as an opportunity to discipline myself, I have decided to voluntarily suspend my entertainment activities for the time being, starting today.”

In his apology video, Kuruma explained that he was invited to participate in online gambling by a college acquaintance at the end of 2019.

“I was told that sending money from an overseas account to play at an online casino was not illegal.”

He further stated:

“At the time, there were advertisements for such websites on the internet. Seeing those ads also contributed to my misunderstanding that it was not illegal, and so I engaged in online casino gambling.”

According to him, he participated in online gambling for about a year, until the end of 2020.

At Yoshimoto Kogyo, comedians Daitaku’s Yoshimoto Dai and 9-Bangai Retro’s Nakamura★Shun has already been voluntarily questioned by the Metropolitan Police Department and announced they would suspend activities until the facts are confirmed. Following this, it was reported that about 10 Yoshimoto comedians, including Kuruma, had been questioned.

Even if an online casino operates in a country where gambling is legal, accessing it from Japan to gamble is illegal.

 

They actively exchanged information about money-making opportunities

“There are many voices calling for leniency towards Kuruma, who promptly apologized and voluntarily suspended his activities. More than four years have passed since he quit online casinos, and as lawyer Toru Hashimoto mentioned on a TV program, this case also seems to serve as a deterrent by the police. However, the fact that over ten Yoshimoto comedians are suspected of involvement is an unusual situation. One major reason why it spread so widely, especially among young comedians, is their daily lifestyle habits,” said a comedy industry insider.

This isn’t limited to Yoshimoto; comedians often perform at the same theaters or regional gigs, frequently working with the same people. Since they see each other daily, they tend to have strong connections and share trendy information with one another.

A recent example is the investment scandal involving Takeshi Kimoto of the comedy duo TKO, which was reported in 2022. It was revealed that he had collected billions of yen from multiple fellow comedians for forex trading and real estate investments. According to the same comedy industry insider:

“In Kimoto’s case, it was forex and real estate investments, but cryptocurrency is another typical example. Since relying solely on their comedy income feels financially uncertain in the long run, many comedians become deeply involved in side businesses like investments and gambling. In the dressing rooms at theaters, they frequently exchange information about money-making opportunities. But they often jump in without thoroughly considering whether something is a scam or even legal. So, it’s no surprise that online casino discussions spread among comedians.”

This suggests that there are industry-specific reasons behind comedians’ enthusiasm for investments.

“The so-called online casino comedians were interviewed by the police one after another from January to early February. Given how many of its members were involved, Yoshimoto should consider establishing an independent third-party committee to thoroughly investigate how online casinos became so widespread within the company and whether its response after receiving reports was appropriate. Yoshimoto isn’t just a comedy agency; it is deeply involved in the Osaka Expo and handles public projects as well,” said a national newspaper social affairs journalist.

In a YouTube video, comedian Hirofumi Suga of the duo Rozan emphasized that Yoshimoto had repeatedly conducted compliance training and had also warned about online casinos. Despite these efforts, this ‘scandal’ still happened.

Following Fuji TV, Yoshimoto’s governance is now under scrutiny as well.