Japan sees 7% drop in number of pachinko halls

The number of operational pachinko halls in Japan fell by 584 in 2020, with a large drop in available machines.

Japan.- The Japanese cooperative for pachinko halls in the country, Zennihon Yugi Jigyo Kyodo, has revealed that the number of operational halls fell by 7 per cent year-on-year in 2020.

While sales in the sector seem to be recovering from the hit taken during the Covid-19 pandemic, the number of active pachinko halls has fallen by 584 to 8,302.

The cooperative also reported a 6 per cent decline in the number of members last year, even though venues were allowed to operate during much of the pandemic. Ninety new halls joined prior to January 15, while 612 had closed or temporarily closed.

Pachinko machines

Operational halls currently hold 3,707,894 gaming machines, the cooperative said. That’s 192,799 fewer than in December 2019.

Of those, 2,244,798 are pachinko machines, down by 125,788 since December 2019.