Tsukiji a new contender
A new name has cropped up in reports about potential integrated-resort locations in Japan: the former Tsukiji Fish Market in Tokyo.
According to Asia Gaming Brief, Tokyo officials “leaked” information that the 23-hectare (57-acre) site, which will serve as a parking lot during the 2020 Olympics, could become “a large-scale MICE zone including luxury hotels, restaurants, plazas, waterfront walkways and a direct connection with the Hamarikyu Gardens,” all with the potential to attract some 25 million visitors per year.
It’s not yet known if a casino is also in the mix. According to AGB, even if the proposed complex does not include gaming, the development is worth watching, because it could offer stiff competition to any other IR in the area. Nearby Yokohama, which has often been mentioned as a prime site, is less than an hour’s drive from Tokyo. Meanwhile, Deloitte Tohmatsu has been tapped by the Tokyo government to research the economic and social impacts of an IR in the capital city.
At the same time, MGM Resorts has pretty much declared itself with its new “Osaka First” policy. According to Inside Asian Gaming, the U.S. gaming giant will “concentrate MGM’s management resources in Osaka to gain regional improvement plan approval for an IR facility in Japan.” Solidifying that commitment, on January 10 MGM Chairman and CEO Jim Murren told Osaka Prefecture Governor Ichiro Matusi and Osaka City Mayor Hirofumi Yoshimura that Osaka is “the best.”
Jason Hyland, president of MGM Resorts Japan, added that the company will “continue deepening our relationships with those in the regional tourist industries as well as the financial circles.”
Other gaming operators are hedging their bets. The recent two-day Hokkaido IR Showcase held in Sapporo drew an impressive lineup including U.S.-based operators Hard Rock International, Caesars Entertainment and Mohegan Gaming & Entertainment and Macau licensees Melco Resorts & Entertainment and SJM.
Steven Tight, Caesars’ president of international development, told GGRAsia that the firm has responded to a “formal request for information” from authorities in Tomakomai City, an industrial port on the island of Hokkaido.
“We have been meeting with stakeholders throughout Japan in both large cities and smaller regional areas who share our vision for a Japanese IR partnership that truly reflects the best of Japan. We view Yokohama, Tomakomai, Osaka and Tokyo as very attractive development locations,” Tight informed the news outlet. He said Caesars will consider “all opportunities throughout Japan” and “not rule out any possibilities” for the time being; that includes Yokohama, which put out an RFI even though it’s not completely sold on the idea of being a host city.
“We are aware and respect that a decision has yet to be made regarding the attraction of an IR, and therefore are not at the stage of sharing information about locations or other specifics,” Tight said about Yokohama.
Connecticut-based Mohegan Gaming seems to be focused on Hokkaido. Speaking to AGB Nippon, SVP Corporate Finance Christopher Jones said the tribe’s Inspire IR project in Incheon, South Korea, which is expected to open in early 2022, will give the operator a leg up on foreign tourism to Japan. “We are going to be able to build a database of Korean and Chinese customers. This massive database will allow for timely marketing to international customers within short traveling distance from here in Japan,” Jones said.
IAG reported that Japanese tourism and hospitality firm Kamori Kanko hopes to be part of an IR in Hokkaido’s Rusutsu Village. Its far-reaching visions includes not just a resort with casino and entertainment facilities but also schools, healthcare centers, commercial and retail districts and multi-family homes.
“An integrated resort at Rusutsu will allow for the development of core community-based support infrastructure,” said Kamori Kanko President Hisatake Kamori. “Aside from casino gaming, which is only a small component in the overall scheme, our vision includes healthcare facilities, schools, commercial and retail precincts, multi-family homes and more tourism and entertainment venues, all in an environmentally-friendly manner. It will be a true ‘integrated resort.
’” Kamori Kanko’s consultant, the Innovation Group, estimates that total GGR and non-gaming revenues for the facility could exceed US$1 billion per year.
And who will be staffing these monolithic resort complexes? According to the Kyodo News Agency, Japan’s workforce is projected to drop 20 percent from 2017 to 2040 due to population declines and a discouraging job picture. One report suggests that the number of workers in Japan will drop from 65.3 million in 2017 to 60.82 million in 2025 and 52.45 million in 2040. The government has announced a plan to accept more than 345,000 foreign workers over a five-year period starting in April, a plan that met with little enthusiasm from the public.
