Gambling News by Gambling Headquarters

Four former employees of an affiliate of Yamato Transport Co., a major delivery company, have been arrested on suspicion of gambling on professional baseball games at their offices, police said. According to the police, on-duty drivers from the Kyoto and Osaka branches of Kyoto Yamato Unyu delivery company placed bets via cell phone e-mail. The betting system was started by another employee about a decade ago. More than 100 million yen in bets has been collected annually in recent years. Part of the money financed further gambling outside the company. Prosecutors received papers on nine other employees who were also involved. The nine comprise a 50-year-old former manager of the company's Osaka branch and company drivers. The four have been under arrest since mid-October and were dismissed by the company along with the Osaka branch manager. Of the four, Yoshinori Kato, 61, a former deputy manager of the company's Osaka branch; Tadashi Kato, 33, Yoshinori's third son and a former section chief of the branch's sales department; and Shinichi Ogawa, 50, a former section chief of the Kyoto branch's sales department, have already been indicted.