Wakayama opposition builds
A poll conducted by the Yomiuri Shimbun reveals that a majority of Osakans do not want a casino built in their vicinity.
Asia Gaming Brief reports that 57 percent of residents oppose a plan to bring an integrated resort to Yumeshima Island, and just 30 percent approve. And it looks like opposition to the plan is growing: a previous poll saw 52 percent against a casino and 33 percent in favor.
Even so, Osaka Governor Ichiro Matsui is eager to get one of the two to three integrated resort licenses that are expected to be awarded by the government sometime next year.
Osakans aren’t the only ones who dislike the idea of a casino in the neighborhood.On November 30, anti-casino forces in Wakayama Prefecture launched a campaign to defeat a plan by Governor Yoshinobu Nisaka and Mayor Masahiro Obana to bring an IR to Wakayama’s Marina City location.
“There is not much time left to head off the casino bid,” said anti-casino activist Masayoshi Hatanaka. “We must create an organization that spreads widely among the people and then quickly win the decisive battle.”
In that market, opponents of casino gaming face considerable opposition from the Wakayama Chamber of Commerce and others in the business community.
Pockets of opposition are to be expected in a country where the majority of residents overall resisted legislation to introduce legal casinos, which was pushed by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and passed in December 2016. But they are likely to be overruled as politicians consider the estimated billions in revenues that could be generated by a Japan casino industry.
Among the interested investors are Caesars Entertainment, the Las Vegas Sands Corp., MGM Resorts International and Wynn Resorts, who are hoping to cash in on part of an estimated $25 billion in annual revenues.
According to Japan Today, concerns about problem gambling in the country remain in the forefront for lawmakers charged with building the regulatory structure.
“Anybody can develop a gambling disorder regardless of his or her social and economic background or age,” said Sachio Matsushita, deputy director of the National Hospital Organization Kurihama Medical and Addiction Center. “In the worst case, pathological gambling could drive a person to commit suicide, as it causes financial problems.”
Some 700,000 Japanese adults are estimated to have engaged in compulsive gambling in the past year and about 3.2 million adults were estimated to have suffered from it during their lifetimes.
