Pop Group Member Referred to Prosecutors Over Gambling

Tokyo, June 16 (Jiji Press)--Tokyo's Metropolitan Police Department on Monday sent papers on a member of popular boy group JO1 to prosecutors for alleged illegal gambling on an online casino site.
Shion Tsurubo, 24, has admitted the allegation. He said he was not fully aware of the illegality of online gambling, according to investigative sources.
"I became obsessed with online gambling for a while because it's so easy to access with a smartphone," he was quoted as saying.
According to the MPD, Tsurubo had deposited a total of about 15 million yen with an online casino site since December 2023.
Tsurubo said that he stopped accessing the site after seeing on the news around August last year that gambling on online casino sites was illegal. He is believed to have incurred a net loss of about 7.1 million yen.
(2025/06/16-17:15)