The Japanese parliament has reconvened for a five-month session, and could review the country’s Integrated Resorts Integration Bill by April.
The IR bill must first be considered by the governing coalition made up of the Buddhist Komeito and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party. Then it will go to the House of Representatives and finally be viewed by the Diet, according to GGRAsia.
Most observers agree the bill cannot pass until an anti-gambling addiction measure passes through parliament.
As Japan inches closer to a legal casino industry, renowned casino architect Paul Steelman has a few words of advice for lawmakers, who are planning to site one megaresort in each of several high-density metropolitan areas (oft-mentioned contenders include Tokyo, Yokohama and Osaka). Steelman says that’s not the optimal plan.
Speaking to Inside Asian Gaming, he said Las Vegas is the indisputable model for success in the gaming business.
“Las Vegas has proved and will continue to prove that a planned group of casinos with a large convention center, stadiums and other attractions will continue to attract large numbers of tourists,” said Steelman. “The spectacle of the group, the endless entertainment possibilities, something new during each and every visit keeps casinos focused on creating events that will fill the hotels. A single casino has less initial investment and once operating less desire to ‘risk’ to create attractions.”
Global Market Advisors agrees, and has called for an Osaka Strip to be developed on Osaka’s Yumeshima Island. In a report on the matter released last May, GMA said, “Developing the Osaka site, with multiple operators on the ‘Osaka Strip’, would create critical mass and a true tourist destination. This would compete with Las Vegas, Macau and Singapore in generating nearly US$11 billion from that district alone.”
GMA pointed out that Downtown Las Vegas attracts 18 million customers a year—“more than Disneyworld.”
“Everyone is going into Japan with this notion of having exclusivity, that’s what everyone wants. But success comes when the licensees really talk to one another like in Las Vegas. Then the sum of the parts become greater than the whole.”
