Govertsen: Time could be on the side of investors
In more discouraging news for casino investors interested in Japan, legislation that will bring the first integrated resorts to the country has been tabled until the spring of 2018 at the earliest.
This week, just as the extraordinary Diet session was to have begun, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is expected to dissolve the body, which would trigger a general election in late October, according to CDC Gaming Reports.
An unidentified ruling party official said, “Even if a truncated special Diet session is held after the general election, it won’t be possible to submit the legislation at that time.”
Abe’s public approval ratings, which plummeted in polls this summer, have rebounded by up to 50 percent in some surveys, due in part to unease about North Korea’s missile and nuclear tests and unrest in the opposition Democratic Party. Abe told the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and the Komeito party that he might seize the moment to dissolve the lower house for a snap poll September 28.
But the delay may work in favor of would-be casino bidders, who have lined up in hopes of nabbing a Japan casino license. “As contemplated today, the IR bill seems to be heading down a track of being far too restrictive,” Union Gaming analyst Grant Govertson told GGRAsia. “A longer-dated passage of the IR bill could allow the industry and the legislature, via the expert panel, to draft a more appropriate IR Implementation Bill that can be a win-win for all parties.”
Govertson said regulations in the draft legislation had become were “more restrictive by the day,” in an effort to assuage fears among the public about problem gambling.
The restrictions were starting to quench the enthusiasm of global would-be IR investors including Hard Rock, MGM, Wynn, the Las Vegas Sands Corp., Galaxy and others including Malaysian gaming giantGenting Singapore, which just announced it would open a new branch office in Tokyo.
