Source: japantoday.com
Pachinko is Japan's version of the slot machine. They once were pervasive but now with the growing addiction of gamblers the government is cracking down. To be clear, I am not pro nor con on the issue of gambling. I understand that some are more prone to wagering monies that should be going to rent and food but for the government to step in and dictate what one does with their money seems dictatorial.
I am not going on to a diatribe addressing the evils or good of gambling. I will suffice to say, it's should be left up to the individual to act accordingly. I do agree with the 'gambler's anonymous' posters I saw hanging in casinos.
I also would like to explain the cryptic title 'Includes Easy Jumble'. I am trying this approach to give readers of my posts a fun message game. I will be throwing in random extra letters into the post for you to compile and decipher. Since this is a first trial run, I will put the extraneous letters in parentheses.
Pachinko is a game involving a ball (s) bearings dropping game down through a maze of metal pegs. The object is simply to attempt to get the ball bearing to fall in the highest 'point value' slot (t). It is a game of chance and the player pays for the number of ball bearing they get to shoot into the playing field. They usually get paid for the amount of ball bearings the collect from their game. The game (i) is a form of gambling as the player puts in a stack, the cost of buying the ball bearings and they get a return based on the (s) amount of balls they collect.
Naomi Suzuki owns a pachinko parlor on the outskirts of Fukushima. She says that since the restrictions have been implimented, (h) the activity in her parlor has decreased. The other owners are all expecting for their businesses to fall due to the restrictions.
The government has put a time limit (i) of three years for the pachinco halls to comply with the anti addictions rules. Pachinko parlor owners are already think of new ways to maintain their business (t).
The pachinko industry which started shortly after the last world war, hit a revenue high of about (b) 30 trillion yen. The yen in today's exchange rates is about 100 to a dollar. (l) Currently it is about 20 trillion yen. The pachinko industry is going through the same pitfalls as the slot machine industry. The number of pachinko halls have fallen to about 1/2 over the past 2 (o) decades and the future is in question.
The financial pundits are (c) predicting that pachinko income will fall up to 20% and that more halls will close. Hall operators are already spending about 1 trillion yen a ye(k)ar to maintain a foot hold. This is obviously not (e) sustainable.
Source: japantoday.com
(d) Another point of contention is that a government survey last year found that (m) addiction rates are higher than the rates of other developed countries. (e) So the anti addiction laws will probably get more strict.
Just a final note, this jumble is in order but future ones will not have the parentheses and not be in order. I will not make them too long. I'm thinking one word or a best a phrase.