The only bidder for an integrated resort in Osaka, Japan—a partnership of MGM Resorts and the Orix Corp.—submitted its plan last week for a $9 billion property on Yumeshima Island. Yumeshima is the site of a world expo in 2025, but the IR will not be completed by then because of the complications of last year’s pandemic. Being the only bidder in Osaka doesn’t guarantee a selection because Osaka will be required to submit a bid to the national government to be chosen as one of the sites for an integrated resort. That application should be submitted by next spring.
Osaka and Tokyo are the favorites to be chosen, but officials in Tokyo are not supportive of an integrated resort and no company has announced a bid for the national capital. MGM and Orix are the last bidder standing in Osaka and previous plans from Genting and Melco have been scuttled. The MGM property wouldn’t open before 2028, and possibly not until 2030. The facility would include 3,000 hotel rooms and suites, along with event spaces in excess of 200,000 square feet. A casino could occupy only 5 percent of the total square footage of the development.
Meanwhile in Wayakama, the government the prefecture confirmed last week that it will partner in an integrated resort (IR) bid with a consortium led by a unit of Toronto-based private equity firm Clairvest Group Inc.
Clairvest Neem Ventures (CNV) was the sole bidder after the Suncity Group unexpectedly withdrew from the running in May.
The current IR plan has been estimated at $4.3 billion, appreciably more than the $2.5 billion investment sought by the prefectural government.
This isn’t Clairvest’s first gaming venture, according to Casino.org; its portfolio also includes investments in New Jersey’s Meadowlands Race Track, Canada’s Grey Eagle Resort & Casino, Chilean Gaming Holdings and business-to-business sports betting and iGaming provider FSB Technology.
CNV has partnered with French casino firm Groupe Partouche, which currently operates properties in France, Switzerland, Belgium and Tunisia.
The partners have proposed developing the complex at Marina City, south of downtown Wakayama. Clairvest says the resort’s theme will be “a land of wood and a land of water.”
The partners plan to highlight the natural wonders of Wakayama, like the World Heritage-listed Kumano Kodo Pilgrimage Route, the mountaintop temple complex of Koyasan, and the stunning Shirara Beach. The IR plan includes 2,700 hotel rooms, a convention center capable of hosting 3,000 attendees, and a 400,000-square-foot casino. A second partner is AMSE Resorts Japan Co Ltd, which is reportedly led by former casino executive William Weidner, the man in charge of the Las Vegas Sands development in Macau in the early days, and later with the development of the Solaire casino in Manila.
A statement from the local government said, “We will create an excellent Area Development Plan for an IR that will greatly contribute to the region’s development and make a contribution to the country’s tourism strategy.” The local government must submit its application to central authorities by April 28, 2022. Japan approved up to three IRs in the first phase of liberalization; the process was interrupted by Covid-19, which caused many interested bidders to bow out. The approved resorts are expected to open sometime in the second half of the decade.
One obstacle to a Wakayama IR could be its proximity to Osaka, which is than 38 miles away and Tokyo isn’t that much farther.
