I was playing Texas Hold'em poker with my son and he was asking if I could get an API from a wallet provider to integrate sats into a poker app that he could build.
I was saying that there could be legal implications with playing with sats and he reminded me of the loophole in Japan, where they play with ball-bearings and just conveniently there is a shop nearby which converts them to cash....more eloquently explained below...
I wonder if @koob knew of this when introducing cowboy credits?
Gambling for cash is illegal in Japan, but the widespread popularity of low-stakes pachinko in Japanese society has enabled a specific legal loophole allowing it to exist.
Pachinko balls (cowboy credits?) won from games cannot be exchanged directly for money in the parlor, nor can they be removed from the premises or exchanged with other parlors.
However, they can be legally traded to the parlor for so-called "special prize" tokens, which can in turn be "sold" for cash to a separate vendor off-premises.
These vendors (ostensibly independent from, but often owned by, the parlor owner) then sell the tokens back to the parlor at the same price paid for them—plus a small commission, creating a cash profit—without technically violating the law.
This post might be more relevant and engaging in the ~meta territory.