Japan is finally moving forward with its plan to develop three integrated resorts (IRs) with casinos, part of what could be a first wave of the country’s legal gaming industry.
Nagasaki Prefecture has received proposals from five applicants, including Casinos Austria; Pixel Companyz in collaboration with Groupe Partouche; Get Nice Holdings working with Current Corp.; and Oshidori International Development with Mohegan Gaming & Entertainment. The fifth has not been named. The local government wants to develop an IR on land near the Dutch-themed park Huis Ten Bosch in Sasebo City. It’s one of four candidate locations in Japan, along with Yokohama, Osaka and Wakayama.
“I would like to express my sincere thanks to the applicants and their partner companies for making their applications during a time when the world continues to fight Covid-19,” said Nagasaki Governor Hodo Nakamura in a statement. “We will continue to follow the national basic policy and proceed with a rigorous review for our IR operator selection.”
Local governments vying for a casino resort complex must first find a private-sector partner, then apply to the national government for a license to host one. According to GGRAsia, central government authorities expect to start accepting submissions on October 1 and will review those submissions through April 2022. It will make its final decisions by the end of next year, with groundbreaking likely taking place in 2023 and IRs opening in the latter half of the 2020s. The national government, which first approved the plan in 2016, expects IRs to boost foreign tourist arrivals to 60 million by 2030.
Wynn Resorts, one of the global operators once expected to take part in the bidding in Yokohama, was notably absent in the lineup there. According to the Asahi Shimbun, Wynn bowed out of the process due to uncertainty around the Covid-19 pandemic and will instead focus on its operations in the United States and Macau.
“We have decided that it would be difficult to update our previous proposals with the current timing and also to complete the application documents required by the city,” a representative was quoted as saying.
But Wynn did not rule out a casino resort in Japan in the future.
Last year, the company told Inside Asian Gaming, “We continue to be interested in the Japan market and IR development there.” A recent email confirmed that position, saying, “Wynn Resorts continues to closely monitor the integrated resort situation in Japan and views the country as a strong potential market.” Wynn said its pursuit of a Japan IR is “undiminished,” but it would not take part in the Yokohama RFP due to lack of clarity “regarding the post-Covid-19 international IR market” or Japan’s IR Basic Policy, which was expected to be released in January 2020, but was not complete until last December.
According to the Japan Times, its release was stalled by the ouster of former Liberal Democratic Party Lower House member and casino advocate Tsukasa Akimoto, who was arrested in connection with a casino-related bribery scandal. Completion of the policy was furthered delayed by the pandemic.
The policy details standards for the IRs, including the overall concept, which must include not only a casino area but convention facilities, entertainment and shopping, exhibition halls and hotels, the Times reported.
The situation is problematic in Yokohama. Though the city plans to start accepting proposals next month for IR firms, local opposition is a factor. The Yokohama Municipal Assembly rejected a petition to hold a referendum on an IR complex, though Mayor Fumiko Hayashi favors the project, and a pro-casino petition was signed by 190,000 residents. Yokohama’s site of choice spans 43 hectares (106 acres) in the Yokohama Bay area.
Osaka’s chosen locale is Yumeshima Island, the planned site of the 2025 World Expo. The local government has big plans for the tract, and announced on January 27 that it would also pursue a “Super City” concept using artificial intelligence (AI), reported IAG. Speaking of the AI concept, Osaka Governor Hirofumi Yoshimura said of the two target areas, “I would like to receive proposals under the spirit of ‘Give it a try.’ Osaka is known as a base of innovation. I would like us to contribute to that.”
In December, Osaka Governor Hirofumi Yoshimura said he hopes the government will choose an IR operator by summer or fall of this year, though only one consortium, led by U.S. operator MGM Resorts International, has expressed interest in the license there, and the impact of Covid-19 could have an impact on its plans.
Two firms are bidding for an IR project in Wakayama Prefecture: Suncity Group Holdings Japan Co. and Clairvest Neem Ventures. Suncity Group is linked to Macau-based Suncity Group Ltd. Clairvest Neem Ventures is a unit of Canada-based private-equity management firm Clairvest Group.
Wakayama will choose a partner this spring and, if it wins a bid, hopes to open the resort in 2026.
Hokkaido had also expressed enthusiasm for hosting an IR, but Governor Naomichi Suzuki says there’s not enough time this year to consider proposals. And in December, Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike told local media that further debate is necessary before an IR can be considered in Japan’s most populous metropolitan area, with almost 9 million residents.
