One man in Japan accidentally received over $350,000 in COVID relief funds intended for his whole town and he says he gambled it away online

• A 24-year-old man in a small Japanese town was accidentally given over $350,000 in COVID-19 relief funds.
• Rather than returning the money, he lost the money gambling in online casinos, his lawyer said.

In April, a 24-year-old man in the small town of Abu in western Japan received 46.3 million yen — a little over $350,000 — in his bank account.

The transfer wasn't intentional: He was given the entire sum of COVID-19 relief funds intended for everyone in his small town, according to the Mainichi Shimbun newspaper, instead of the 100,000 yen (about $774) he was supposed to receive.

Across the next two weeks, the man's lawyer says, he gambled away all the money in online casinos.

The money was intended for 463 low-income households in Abu, but was accidentally transferred to a single recipient who was at the top of the list. According to the Mainichi Shimbun report, the unnamed recipient of the town's COVID-19 relief funds is "sorry for using the money," but unable to pay it back.

"We want to trace the flow of the money in the lawsuit," Abu mayor Norihiko Hanada said. "I want him to return it, it's not too late."

The town of Abu has since filed suit in an attempt to retrieve the money, which seeks 51 million yen (a nearly 5 million yen increase of the original amount, reportedly intended to pay for legal fees). The town also plans to file a criminal complaint, according to Japanese newspaper reports.

The unnamed man who received the money has pledged to return it, according to news reports — despite his lawyer saying earlier this week that he would be unable to repay the money with his current assets.

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