Japan’s casino quest has led to the arrest of a lawmaker from the country’s governing party on charges of accepting bribes from Chinese online lottery firm 500.com.

In an early bid for the title of 2019’s worst Christmas ever, Japanese authorities announced Wednesday that they’d arrested Tsukasa Akimoto, a lower house member of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). Earlier this month, news broke that Akimoto’s aides were suspected of bringing in large amounts of cash from overseas without declaring the cash to customs officials.

On Wednesday, the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office announced that Akimoto (pictured) had been arrested on suspicion of accepting around ¥3.7m (US$34k) from 500.com, which was at the time pursuing an integrated resort project near Hokkaido. Until a few months ago, Akimoto held a cabinet position with influence over Japan’s casino development process.

Akimoto confirmed his arrest in social media posts, in which he apologized for “causing this kind of situation and such a commotion.” Akimoto continued to deny any wrongdoing, although local media quoted LDP sources saying Akimoto had formally indicated his intention to quit the party to spare it further embarrassment.