The purpose of the continued busting of backroom slot parlors in Kabukicho, following Kinshicho, is to eliminate gangsters!　The police also focused on the “interest structure”.

An early morning bust in Kabukicho

At around 3:30 a.m. on May 24, an illegal pachislot parlor “Pac-Man” in Kabukicho, Shinjuku-ku, was busted and the manager and three others were arrested on suspicion of habitual gambling. The store was located in a multi-tenant building with host clubs and restaurants, and its signage falsely claimed it was a bar. Customers were screened through an intercom with a camera. Double iron doors with locks were installed to guard against raids by the authorities.

According to the Metropolitan Police Department, more than 10,000 customers visited the store in one year, and sales amounted to about 330 million yen. The arrested manager, 39, has admitted the charges to investigators.

In recent years, the number of illegal pachislot parlors that do not have a license to operate adult entertainment businesses and allow their customers to make money has been increasing dramatically. The machines are illegally modified to have extremely high gambling potential, and while a single hit can bring in a lot of money, there is a high risk of losing a lot of money if the player gets hooked, which has become a problem.

The machines are also called “backstage slot machines” or “dark slot machines,” and they attract customers by installing machines with high gambling nature, such as old slot machines before payout restrictions were imposed and machines that have been modified to allow players to play at illegal rates.

At first glance, the store looks like a normal slot parlor, with food and a drink bar where customers can eat and drink freely. The staff is more courteous than in a regular pachislot parlor, and if there is anything they do not understand, they are ready to help. The good customer service also attracts customers,” said a reporter from the society section of a national newspaper.

The Metropolitan Police Department also busted an illegal slot parlor on May 11. Three men were arrested on suspicion of habitual gambling after they were accused of setting up a pachislot machine in a room of a multi-tenant building in Kinshicho, Tokyo, and allowing customers to gamble on it. The store has been in operation since around 2003 and is believed to have had sales of 792 million yen over a period of about 10 years. A reporter from the social affairs department explained.

The police’s Anti-Boryokudan Division is handling the Kinshicho bust. The fact that the Anti-Gang Division is involved in this case suggests that the police believe that sales are going to the gangs. The Kabukicho bust seems to be led not by the Shinjuku Police Department, which has jurisdiction, but by the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department.

Why the number of illegal pachislot parlors has increased

There are about 20 illegal pachislot parlors in Kabukicho alone. Why has the number of illegal pachislot parlors increased so much? Mr. A, a former employee, says , “Although they are illegal, they are busy every day and the number of customers never stops.

The reason for the increase is that it is easier to run a business than anything else. When you start a new business, you need to invest in equipment and personnel, and it costs a lot of money to prepare, but you can start a slot machine business with just a room, a table, and a minimum number of employees. You need to have the initial capital, but since gambling operators don’t set up their machines in such a way that they lose money, they can always recover the money if customers come to play.

The purchase price of used pachislot machines is also low, he says. A machine called Type 4, which still has many fans, can be purchased for as little as 20,000 yen, or as much as 100,000 yen at the highest price. Just by purchasing a few dozen of these machines, he says, a large amount of money can be made in a store.

The biggest problem for building owners is having vacant tenants. To fill the vacancies, they would rather have people of questionable backgrounds move in and pay rent. That’s why even illegal stores can operate. There are also some subleases where the tenants are ordinary people, but the actual management is done by gangsters.

Excellent as a stooge.”

Mr. B, a former gangster who was in charge of collecting protection money, confided, “I received some money from the backroom slot parlors as a benefit for the gang.

When you do backroom business, you have to pay a protection fee to the gang that controls the area. But the amount is not that big. If the store goes out of business, there is no way to get out of it, and if there is a dispute with an illegal store, the gang is bound by laws and ordinances, so someone will be taken advantage of.

Once the backroom slots are open for business, they only cost about rent and utilities besides labor costs. It is a pretty good business. It’s an excellent stooge because the business is stable. The gangs welcome the increase in the number of Urasuro.

In addition to the protection money, there is another connection between the backroom slots and the gangs.

Unlike regular pachislot parlors, you can’t just stroll into an under-the-hood parlor. Unlike ordinary pachislot parlors, you can’t just walk into a backroom pachislot parlor and play without an introduction from an illegal tout or other underhanded businessman. And they, too, pay the gangsters for their work.

The backstage business is basically a cash business. Since backroom slot machines are also a cash business, it is easy for gangsters who cannot use bank accounts to get in. They are also used to launder the money they have obtained through other means.

Since April of this year, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department has been taking full-scale measures against organized crime. They are also cracking down on illegal parlors that serve as a source of funding for the gangs, such as backroom slot machines.

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