Overview

• Suzuki Yoshitake, 44, acknowledged the indictment at his Sept. 16 initial hearing in Tokyo District Court for repeatedly using offshore online casinos.
• He is accused of engaging in baccarat gambling from September 2024 to May 2025 from within Japan, an offense charged as habitual gambling.
• Prosecutors said he placed bets in 145 sessions over eight months totaling about 600 million yen in wagers, leading to 20–30 million yen in debt and loans that included 8 million yen from a celebrity physician.
• The defense sought a suspended sentence as Suzuki described a gambling addiction, said he began after a senior colleague introduced him about five years ago, and apologized for misleading a February 2025 internal inquiry.
• Suzuki was arrested in June and fired from Fuji TV, and a separate 27-year-old former announcer at the network was summarily fined 100,000 yen for simple gambling tied to online casinos.