MGM Resorts International is going all-out in its planned bid to win an integrated resort license in Osaka, Japan.
Speaking to Bloomberg Television last week, MGM Chairman and CEO Jim Murren predicted that the city and prefecture will likely choose their development partners by “this time next year,” and MGM will do all it can to be the chosen operator.
“All we can do is work as hard as we can, meet with Japanese companies, form a Japanese consortium: we’re trying to outwork our competitors a little bit,” Murren said.
Osaka, Japan’s third most populous city, will also host the 2025 World Expo. The timing of the expo, which coincides with the presumed opening of Japan’s first casinos, has helped put Osaka at the top of the list of IR locations, along with Tokyo and Yokohama. Yumeshima, an artificial island in Osaka Bay and the site of the expo, is also considered a prime spot for an integrated resort.
There’s been speculation that the April 7 elections could upset the plan; according to GGRAsia, the pro-IR Osaka Restoration Association faces a “united front of all other political parties, ranging from the deeply conservative Liberal Democratic Party to the far left Japan Communist Party,” who share “mutual hostility” to the local ruling party.
In a curious move, earlier this month the incumbents—Osaka Prefecture Governor Ichiro Matsui and Osaka City Mayor Hirohumi Yoshimura—resigned their posts with a plan to run for each other’s seats in April; it’s part of a larger plan by the leaders of Osaka Ishin no Kai (One Osaka) to merge the city and prefecture. According to the Japan Times, the unusual strategy has unnerved some in the pro-IR camp who fear it might jeopardize the development.
Gubernatorial candidate Tadakazu Konishi, backed by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, is against the merger and reportedly is not sold on integrated casino resorts. Though he’s offered tentative support for the concept, he’s also said it should be pursued “carefully”; at the same time, the Osaka Restoration Association is full speed ahead with its campaign to “realize the Osaka IR in 2024,” a year before the World Expo and a year before analysts expect any of the three Japan IRs to open.
The Japanese Communist Party, meanwhile, reportedly will support Konishi in an “all anti-Osaka Ishin” effort, the Times reported. And the influential Komeito is sure to come out against casinos and urge its Buddhist followers to do the same.
As the drama unfolds, Osaka continues to be the target for some of the largest gaming operators in the world. Seven of them will make an appearance at the 1st Kansai Integrated Resort Industrial Exhibition in Osaka in May; the lineup of speakers include Steven Tight of Caesars Entertainment, Ted Chan of Galaxy Entertainment, Tan Hee Teck of Genting Singapore, Geoffrey Davis of Melco, Ed Bowers of MGM, Chris Gordon of Wynn Development and George Tanasijevich of the Las Vegas Sands Corp.
In February Tanasijevich, Sands’ managing director for global development told the Sankei Shinbun the firm is “making our best efforts to enter Osaka,” which he described as “the realistic chance” for IR development. He hedged his bet somewhat, adding, “Our business model and investment scale is also suitable for Tokyo and Yokohama.”
