A near-certainty in this session
Japan’s integrated resorts bill—which would also bring legal casinos to the market—could be on its way for consideration by the Japanese parliament, also known as the Diet.
On a conference call with investors last week, Las Vegas Sands Corp. Chairman and CEO Sheldon Adelson sounded confident, telling investors, “What we’re hearing from various people is anywhere from 99 percent to 100 percent certainty that the bill is going to come up this Diet session.”
If the market opens up, Adelson recently said, “We will certainly be there as a candidate” for a gaming license; other global operators including Genting, MGM Resorts International, Wynn Resorts and Hard Rock International have also expressed interest.
Legalizing casinos in Japan would be a two-tiered process, with an enabling bill followed by legislation detailing the regulatory structure and other specifics. The enabling bill, which has been pushed by a cross-party selection of lawmakers, could be submitted during an extraordinary session of the Diet that runs until late November, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
“The original bill—they might have changed it since—called for a one-year period to determine the ‘who, what, when, where, why and how’ of integrated resort with casino,” Adelson said on his conference call. “So we’ve got to see what happens over the next year. In any event, it’s very optimistic.”
Jim Murren, CEO of MGM Resorts International, says his company is ready to invest as much as $9.5 billion in Japan if casino gaming is legalized there. Murren said the Vegas-based company is interested in a development in Tokyo, Yokohama or Osaka.
And on his own quarterly earnings call, Wynn Resorts Chairman and CEO Steve Wynn said the casino bill has “more momentum now.” He said he remains interested in the jurisdiction. “I can’t really tell you if it’s going to happen or not, but it does feel like there’s definitely more action in Japan now than there have been in the past six Diet sessions,” said Wynn.
According to the Motley Fool, as the world’s third-largest economy Japan is rich with possibility for major operators, and could bring in a potential $40 billion per year. That would far outstrip both Macau ($27.1 billion) and Las Vegas ($6.3 billion), the world’s reigning casino destinations.
Hard Rock CEO Hamish Dodds told Bloomberg, “We can either play a lead role or a partnership role. We really hope that we can collaborate with Japanese partners and institutions.”
And according to GGRAsia, Macau casino developer Melco Crown Entertainment has also expressed interest in Japan in years past.
“The Japanese gaming market is to be the Holy Grail,” said CSLA analyst Aaron Fischer.
