For a Nagasaki integrated resort (IR) to become a reality, the Japanese prefecture will have to fill in some critical blanks of its plan, including the identities of all its investors. That’s the word from Professor Toru Mihara, who discussed the matter on a panel at G2E Asia last week.
Mihara, chairman of the National Council on Gaming Legislation, said “the ball is in the hands of the prefecture to respond or not” to the central government’s request for more information on the proposal. The Nagasaki group is led by a subsidiary of Casinos Austria, which hopes to build a $3.2 billion resort complex in Sasebo City, Nagasaki.
“The issue is unclear because of the lack of clarity in funding that Nagasaki has proposed,” Mihara said. “For example, under the current documents, we don’t know who the sponsors are, we don’t know who is providing the debt. Nothing has been prepared for the central government, so the government doesn’t understand—who are the real investors, who are the real debtors?
“Nagasaki hasn’t been discussing this with the central government—no disclosure,” he continued. “This has caused certain anxieties among the market that Nagasaki has some stumbling blocks before opening.”
Nagasaki submitted its original proposal to the central government in April 2022. Without more information, and soon, the central government “can say ‘We’ll just wait,’” Mihara said. “It may take months for a response. Maybe they eventually get certification. Well, that’s fine for Nagasaki, but if this continues for months, then the consortium of Nagasaki businesses will collapse. We don’t know if Nagasaki will be awarded or not, but it’s possible that this situation will just continue.”
Integrated resorts with gaming were first approved by the Japanese parliament in 2016. In April 2022, Nagasaki and Osaka both submitted their IR proposals to government officials. In April 2023, lawmakers approved the $10 billion IR to be built in Osaka. Coalition partners MGM Resorts and Orix Corp. will develop the IR on Yumeshima Island in Osaka Bay. The complex will likely not open until the second quarter of 2030, according to a recently revised timeline.
As MGM Resorts CEO and President Bill Hornbuckle noted, the central government’s initial approval “was the big, outstanding item to get across the finish line, and that’s been accomplished.
“We’re looking to break ground either late this year or first quarter next year and it’s between a four-and-a-half to five-year build,” he continued. “It’s probably going to open in the first or second quarter of 2030, so we’ve got some time to go.”
Hornbuckle described Japan as a “great opportunity” for MGM’s global ambitions.
“Osaka has approximately 30 million people within a three-hour transit time of our site in Yumeshima,” he said. “Our site in Osaka is also expected to drive international tourism to Japan given its proximity to other major Asian countries, and Osaka is closer to many northern Chinese cities than any other gaming market.”
The Osaka resort is expected to draw around 20 million visitors annually, 70 percent of them from outside Japan, and bring US$3.9 billion in annual economic benefits to the region.
Meanwhile, the Nagasaki proposal remains in limbo.
