Casino Entry Fee for Japanese Residents

Entry levy: 6,000 yen per 24 hours for Japanese residents

The entry levy is the single rule that shapes how Japanese residents will use a casino in their own country. It is JPY 6,000 per entry, and that figure is not one charge but two: JPY 3,000 for the national government and JPY 3,000 for the prefecture that hosts the casino¹. The law that created it sets the same split, describing JPY 3,000 per entry on a 24-hour unit for each of the two levies⁴. When the legislation was debated, the figure was described plainly as an entry fee of JPY 6,000 per visit⁵.

The levy is charged to Japanese nationals and to foreign residents of Japan. That second group matters: if you live in Japan on a work visa, a spouse visa or permanent residence, you are treated as a resident for this purpose and pay the same JPY 6,000 as a Japanese citizen². A short-stay visitor does not.

The fee is not a cover charge you pay once for the evening. It buys a window of time. Once paid, it covers a consecutive 24-hour period during which you may enter the casino premises³. Come out for dinner, come back at midnight, and you are still inside the same paid window. The clock runs from the moment the fee is charged, not from midnight or from the start of a calendar day.

There is one wrinkle worth knowing before you plan a long session. If you are still inside the gaming area when the 24 hours run out, you pay again. The rules handle repeat entries in a specific way: repeated entries within the period are exempt, and after a third payment the exemption runs until 24 hours have passed⁶. In plain terms, the system is built so that a resident cannot camp inside the gaming floor indefinitely on one JPY 6,000 payment. If your session crosses the boundary, expect to settle up again.

Who pays and who is exempt

The dividing line is residence, not nationality. Japanese nationals pay. Foreign nationals who live in Japan pay. Foreign nationals who are visiting do not².

That means a tourist from Seoul, Singapore or San Francisco walks in without paying the levy, while a Korean or Brazilian who has lived in Osaka for ten years pays it. The rule is about where you live, not what passport you carry.

There is a second layer on top of the fee: a visit limit. Japanese nationals may enter a casino a maximum of 3 times in any consecutive 7 days, or a maximum of 10 times in any consecutive 28 days¹. If you have already been charged the entry fee 3 times in the 7 days before your intended visit, entry is barred⁷. This is a hard cap, not a suggestion, and it applies to the same group that pays the levy.

The categories of people who cannot enter at all are set out clearly⁸:

• Anyone under 20
• Organized crime members and similar
• Anyone who has not paid the entry fee
• Anyone who has hit the entry limit

Those four groups are banned from entering or staying in a casino facility¹.

For comparison, other Asian jurisdictions handle the resident fee differently. Singapore charges its citizens and permanent residents S$150 for every consecutive 24-hour period⁹, a figure that has been described in Japanese research as a 24-hour pass of S$100, or roughly JPY 8,000¹⁰. Japan's JPY 6,000 sits below that. South Korea's Kangwon Land, the one Korean casino open to locals, exempts holders of a foreign passport and Korean citizens with an overseas permanent residence passport, who must show the passport itself, not a driver's license¹¹.

How the fee is split and collected

The JPY 6,000 is not kept in one place. It splits evenly: JPY 3,000 to the national government and JPY 3,000 to the certified prefecture¹. The prefecture that hosts the casino collects its half, and the national government collects the other. The law describes both as JPY 3,000 per entry on a 24-hour unit⁴.

In practice this means the fee is collected at the point of entry, before you go in. You cannot enter without paying it, and unpaid entry is itself a bar to admission⁸. The mechanics are simple: you pay, you are recorded, and your 24-hour window starts.

The visit limit is tracked alongside the payment. Because the cap is 3 entries in 7 days or 10 in 28 days, the operator has to know how many times you have been charged the fee in the relevant window¹. That is why the fee and the limit are administered together rather than separately.

Other Asian markets show how varied the collection can be. Thailand's casino fee schedule charges Thai nationals aged 20 and over THB 1,000 per entry, and foreigners aged 20 and over THB 5,000 per entry, with a reduced THB 1,000 rate for students and accompanying persons¹². South Korea's Kangwon Land entry tax of KRW 9,000 breaks down as KRW 6,300 individual consumption tax, KRW 1,890 education tax and KRW 810 value added tax¹³. Japan's split is simpler: two equal halves, national and local.

Minimum age and ID checks

The minimum age to enter a casino in Japan is 20⁴. Anyone under 20 is barred from casino facilities, full stop⁸. This is not a soft rule with a guardian exception. The banned list is explicit: under-20s, organized crime members and similar, people who have not paid the entry fee, and people who have exceeded the entry limit¹.

The age of 20 is consistent across Japanese gambling. Public sports betting, which covers horse racing, keirin, boat racing and auto racing, also requires you to be 20 or older¹⁴. So the casino age matches the age you already need for the country's existing legal betting.

Because the entry fee is tied to your identity and your visit count, expect ID checks at the door. The fee cannot be administered without knowing who you are and how many times you have entered in the past 7 and 28 days¹. For foreign residents, that means the same document that establishes your residence is the one that determines whether you pay.

For contrast, other markets set the bar differently. Kangwon Land in South Korea admits visitors aged 20 and over, based on the birthday at the time of entry¹¹, though one of its own pages states 19 or older¹⁵. Thailand's casino rules allow entry for under-20s only when accompanied as provided, with the fee waived for a minor accompanied by a parent or guardian under stated conditions¹². Japan has no such carve-out.

Why no one has paid it yet: Japan's casino timeline

Here is the practical fact that overrides everything above: Japan has no operating casino. The entry levy, the visit limit and the age rule all exist in law, but there is no door to walk through and no cashier to pay.

The first integrated resort is scheduled for Osaka's Yumeshima island, with an opening date in 2030². It will be Japan's first integrated resort and will contain the country's first legal casino. Until it opens, the JPY 6,000 levy is a rule waiting for a venue.

So if you are a Japanese resident reading this to work out what a casino visit will cost you, the honest answer is that the cost is known and the date is not yet here. When the Osaka resort opens, you will pay JPY 6,000 for a 24-hour window, you will be capped at 3 entries in 7 days or 10 in 28 days, and you will need to be 20 or older with ID that proves who you are and where you live.

If you want to gamble before then, the legal options are the ones that already exist: horse racing, keirin, boat racing, auto racing and the toto football pools. Those are covered below.

Other gambling costs and taxes in Japan

Japan's existing legal gambling has its own entry prices, and they are far lower than the casino levy. A day at the races costs JPY 200, described as about $2 US, for entry to Tokyo, Nakayama, Kyoto, Hanshin and Chukyo racecourses¹⁶. That is the standard admission for the major tracks.

Reserved seating costs more. At Hakodate Racecourse, an A reserved seat is JPY 1,500 for 226 seats, and that price includes the JPY 100 entry fee¹⁷. So the base entry at that track is JPY 100, and the seat is the bulk of the cost.

The toto football pools are priced per entry at JPY 100, which the operator describes as easy to buy at JPY 100 a go¹⁸. The national sports promotion lottery runs on the same JPY 100 unit price¹⁹.

Poker is a separate case. Tournament poker in Japan is played for fees rather than a casino levy, and those fees are set by the operator. One 2025 Tokyo series lists an 8-game mix event at JPY 15,000 including JPY 1,364 consumption tax, and a 10-game mix at JPY 50,000 including JPY 4,545 consumption tax²⁰. Those are tournament buy-ins, not casino entry fees, but they show the range of what Japanese players actually pay to compete.

One more cost to keep in mind: the consumption tax is built into these prices. The poker fees above state the tax portion explicitly²⁰, and the racecourse entry fee is a flat JPY 200¹⁶. When the casino opens, the JPY 6,000 levy is separate from whatever you spend inside.

What this means for you

If you are a Japanese resident, the casino entry fee is JPY 6,000 per 24 hours, you can enter at most 3 times in 7 days or 10 times in 28 days, and you must be 20 or older¹. If you are a foreign resident of Japan, the same fee and the same limits apply to you². If you are a visitor who does not live in Japan, you do not pay the levy².

None of it is live yet. The first casino is scheduled for Osaka in 2030². Until then, the legal gambling you can actually do in Japan is the racing and pools described above, at JPY 100 to JPY 200 a go¹⁶.

If you are planning a casino trip before 2030, the practical move is to look at destinations that are open now. Our guide to casinos and integrated resorts in Asia covers who can enter and what the rules are inside, and the Asia casino destinations comparison sets out how Macau, Singapore, Manila and Genting differ. For the wider picture on what is legal where, start with can I gamble in Japan.