The 7 Steps April
1. CONTEXT
Mindmap
anything you
know about thetopic, including
vocabulary. Do
some research
online to help.

Gambling in Japan
Listening Questions 1
1. What are 3 examples of government-run gambling?
.

2. QUESTIONS

2. When was the Japan Racing Association founded, and what does itmanage?
.

Read the listening
questions tocheck yourunderstanding.
Look up any new
vocabulary.

3. How much money did gamblers bet on the Japan Cup in 2016?
.
4. Why is Pachinko not considered a form of gambling?
.
5. What is the annual revenue of Pachinko in Japan larger than?
.
Listening Questions 2

3. LISTEN

1. What happened on July 20th, 2018?
.

Listen and answer
the questions
using full
sentences. Circle
the number oftimes and % you
understood.

2. How many casino licenses will be given according to the new law?
.
3. How much will it cost for Japanese residents to enter a casino, and what
restrictions are placed on them?
.
4. Which location is the leading candidate for an Integrated Resort?

1

Listening 1
2 3 4

5%%%

1

Listening 2
2 3 45%%%%%%%.
5. How much is the estimated casino market in Japan worth, and what ranking
would it be in the world?
.
Discussion Questions
1. What are your experiences of visiting casinos?
2. What kind of dangers might be associated with legalizing casinos?

TRANSCRIPT 1

4. CHECK ANSWERS

What places come to mind when you think of gambling, perhaps Las Vegas, Macau, orMonaco? Well Japan has them all beaten in terms of revenue, but without any casinos.
Instead, the current betting landscape in Japan consists of horse racing, lotteries, Pachinko,
bicycle racing, boat racing and J-league soccer pools known as “Toto.” Apart from Pachinko, allgambling is run by the government.

Read through thetranscript andunderline theanswers. Checkthem against yourown answers.

Horse racing is perhaps one of the most popular forms of gambling in Japan. The Japan Racing
Association was founded in 1954 and manages all racecourses, betting facilities, and horsetraining facilities. In 2015, a total amount of $22 billion was wagered in Japan on horse racing.
The purse for the Japan Cup in 2016 was $5.25 million and gamblers bet over $179 million on
the race.

5. CHECK VOCABULARY
Read thetranscript andcircle any new
vocabulary youfind. Look themup and add themto your list.

Although public gambling is lucrative, it doesn’t compare to the privately-run pachinko. It
operates within a grey area of the law and is not technically considered gambling as no money
is exchanged inside. Instead, players receive metal balls which can be converted into prizes or
items that can be sold for cash outside of the parlor. Japanese gamblers spend over $200
billion on pachinko yearly, which is 30 times the annual gambling revenue of Las Vegas andmore than New Zealand’s entire GDP. Nearly half of the country’s leisure time is spent in theseparlors and the industry employs more people than the top 5 car manufacturers in Japan.

Landscape334455

7. SHADOWING
Say the transcript
aloud at the sametime as the audio
without reading
it. Circle how
many times
below.

112
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3
3

4
4EnactCandidate

1. The government is considering __________ing a new law in response to thepandemic.
2. His unique idea turned out to be __________ for the company.
3. The financial __________ has changed due to many mitigating factors.
4. Kevin is the main __________to take over her position when she retires.
5. Many companies are __________ing their success on the upcoming decisions
to be made by the government related to consumption tax.

Read thetranscript aloudat least 5 times,focusing on
intonation andpronunciation.

2
2

Lucrative

Fill-in the blanks with the appropriate word / phrase above:

6. READ ALOUD

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1WagerTRANSCRIPT 2
On July 20th, 2018, Japanese lawmakers voted to enact controversial legislation to legalize
casino resorts called “Integrated Resorts,” or IRs. To start out, there will only be 3 casino
licenses issued with a 30% gaming tax to be paid to local and central governments. Thesecasinos will be built as part of a large resort area and will be limited to only 3% of the resort floor
space. Entry will be free for international visitors but for Japanese residents it will cost ¥6,000.
Additionally, residents will be limited to 3 visits a week and 10 per month.
It is expected that casinos will be the biggest profit generators at these IRs. At the Marina BaySands complex in Singapore, 70% of total revenue came from casino gambling in 2018. Theleading candidate for one of the first three casino licenses is Osaka, which has proposedbuilding an IR on the artificial island of Yumeshima. Apart from Tokyo and Yokohama, Sasebo,Nagasaki, Wakayama, and Tomakomai, Hokkaido have also expressed interest in licenses.

55Goldman Sachs estimates Japan’s casino market at $15.8 billion if three resorts are opened.
This would make it the world’s second-biggest gambling market after Macau. In the first half of2018, Japan had nearly 16 million international visitors, which was up 16% from the year before
according to the organization JNTO, adding to the potential of casinos in Japan.