Japan’s planned integrated resort (IR) industry is unlikely to be derailed by the coronavirus pandemic, though fallout from the contagion may cause minor delays.
That’s the word from gaming consultants polled by GGRAsia last week.
“The largest immediate challenges are at the local level, in cities like Yokohama,” because they cannot proceed with public meetings on the matter, said Brendan Bussmann, of Global Market Advisors LLC.
“While Japan continues to take precautions surrounding the coronavirus, there does not seem to be any major slowdown in the overall time line for integrated resorts in Japan.”
Consultant Daniel Cheng, former senior vice president for Hard Rock International, said the government is “adamant” that it will continue to prepare for IRs, though a majority of residents in a number of surveys have said they disapprove of the casino-anchored resorts, due to fears about problem gambling, increased crime and reduced quality of life. IRs have been central to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s plan to boost tourism to the country.
“The senior leadership insisted in the Diet debates that Covid-19 and IR are mutually exclusive,” Cheng said. “In fact, the coronavirus actually provided some relief from the persistent media lens on the IR bribery scandal.” He referred to the news in December that a high-ranking government official had been arrested and charged with accepting bribes from a Chinese gaming firm, 500.com, in a scandal related to the IR industry. At least five other lawmakers have been similarly charged.
“Only if the virus crisis gets more serious in Japan would it pose a threat to the IR plans,” Cheng said.
