Japan’s legislators may prohibit or severely limit the role of junket operators in the country’s casino gambling market, according to new reports.

On Thursday, GGRAsia reported that the Office of Integrated Resort Regime Promotion – a panel of civil servants advising the government on the drafting of the Integrated Resorts (IR) Implementation Bill – has recommended a prohibition on junkets ferrying high-volume gamblers to Japan’s as-yet unbuilt casinos.

The report offered no specifics on the justification for the civil servants’ anti-junket recommendation, although questions regarding junkets’ financial operations – the issuing of credit and collection of gambling debts, in particular – were said to have been raised.

Singapore’s casino regulatory regime has often been cited as a model Japan would like to emulate, so if Japan does opt for a blanket ban on traditional junket operations, it’s possible that it could allow Singapore-style ‘player agents’ to fill the role of middleman between casinos and gamblers.