Number of Pachinko Parlors and Parlor Operating Companies in Japan: Key Research Findings 2016
Research Outline
- Research period: September to December, 2016
- Research target: Nationwide pachinko parlor operating companies and their pachinko parlors
- Research methodologies: Face-to-face interviews by the specialized researchers, telephone/e-mail surveys, and literature research
Summary of Research Findings
- Number of Pachinko Parlor Operating Companies: 3,421, Number of Parlors: 10,678, as of End of December 2016
The number of pachinko parlor operating companies was 3,421, as of end of December 2016, a decline by 151 companies during the period between the ends of 2015 and 2016. The number of company groups, consolidated by the capital or the same management, became 2,610, down by 111 groups. With the number of pachinko parlors operated by those 3,421 companies decreased to 10,678, down by 315 parlors since the end of 2015, the parlors together with the operating companies continue diminishing. In addition, according to the survey in association with this research, the company groups with their number of gaming machines (the total number of pachinko and pachi-slot machines) less than 500, or those pachinko parlors that possess less than 300 gaming machines in number have higher rate to withdraw from the business. This trend of smaller groups and parlors decreasing is likely to continue.
- Number of Pachinko Parlors Newly Opened by 3,421 Operating Companies in 2016: 171
The number of new pachinko parlors opened by 3,421 operating companies in 2016 was 171, showing slight decrease from the previous year. The location of such new parlors continued to be confined to metropolitan areas. Regarding the business scale of such newly opened parlors, 60% were large or mid-size with 400 or more gaming machines installed, which means that the mainstream of new parlors exceeded the average number of gaming machines per parlor nationwide which is 421.8, as of the end of December 2016. Therefore, the recent tendency is to open fairly large pachinko parlors in metropolitan areas where population concentrate.
- Number of Gaming Machines Declining with 4.50 Million Machines as of Year End of 2016
The number of gaming machines nationwide had been rising until 2014, because the then newly-opened and renovated parlors tend to have been large and installed large number of machines that exceeded the number of machines in the closing parlors. However, in 2016, following the tendency of 2015, the number of gaming machines decreased to 4.50 million machines as of December 2016. It means that the numbers of pachinko parlor operating companies, pachinko parlors, gaming machines, and newly-opened parlors are all on the decline.
- Figure 1: Transition of Number of Pachinko Parlor Operating Companies
- Figure 2: Transition of Number of Pachinko Parlors
- Figure 3: Transition of Number of Gaming Machines
