TOKYO, March 13 (Xinhua) -- Some 3.37 million people in Japan are estimated to have used overseas online casinos, with 1.24 trillion yen (about 8.4 billion U.S. dollars) being spent on the illegal gambling every year, according to a police survey released Thursday.
A research firm, commissioned by the National Police Agency (NPA), conducted the survey on some 27,145 people aged between 15 and 79 nationwide between July and January, with 3.5 percent of respondents saying they have engaged in online gambling.
The percentage translates to about 3.37 million people in the actual population, while there are an estimated 1.97 million people who are currently active users of overseas online casinos in the country, according to the survey.
Sixty percent of the people who either still gamble online or have previously done so recognize that they are addicted to gambling, and 46 percent said they have ended up in debt at least once due to online gambling, the survey said.
Meanwhile, more than 40 percent of the users were unaware that online gambling is illegal in Japan.
The police survey is the first of its kind on online gambling following recent incidents involving athletes and celebrities amid a lack of public awareness about its illegality.
Gambling is illegal in Japan even if an online casino is operating legally overseas. ■
