An anti-casino group in Osaka, Japan, which is fighting plans to build an integrated resort on Yumeshima Island, is threatening to sue the local government for declining to reexamine a land-lease deal that they say violates the local finance act.
Five group members said to be former members of Osaka’s city council said it was illegal for the city to set aside JPY79 billion (US$576 million) to improve the soil at the man-made island in Osaka Bay, because the finance act prohibits excessive public spending.
According to GGRAsia, Osaka’s audit committee declined to probe the land-lease deal for an IR proposed by MGM Resorts and Orix Corp.
The anti-casino community group said last month that it had gathered more than the 2 percent threshold of “effective” local-voter signatures needed to seek a referendum on the issue. But the government is within its rights to shoot down the referendum plan, and casino-supporting parties won all four national parliamentary seats up for grabs in Osaka in recent elections for the House of Councilors.
Osaka and the MGM-Orix partnership submitted their IR bid to Japan’s central government in April. Nagasaki has also applied for the right to host an IR.
