Due to uncertainties created by Covid-19, the government of Osaka, Japan is no longer trying to pinpoint when an integrated resort (IR) in the region could open.
According to the Nikkei Asian Review, the city and prefecture are reluctant to set a firm timeline when businesses and governments are dealing with the financial effects of the pandemic. A partnership of U.S. casino operator MGM Resorts International and Japan’s Orix is the sole bidder for an Osaka IR license.
Osaka originally planned to fast-track the project, and open the first of three Japan IRs by the middle of the decade. It hoped to launch the resort before the start of the World Expo, which is scheduled to take place in 2025 on Yumeshima Island.
Even before Covid, that timeline seemed ambitious, and the viral outbreak made it impossible. Inside Asian Gaming reports that Osaka then hoped for a full opening by the end of 2028. But at this point, the date has been “left completely up in the air.”
Despite the uncertainty, MGM Resorts President and CEO Bill Hornbuckle says the company remains committed to Japan and will submit all RFP documentation as soon as the invitation goes out.
In the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call, he said, “I think you’ll see a requirement of us to submit an RFP with our partner, Orix, sometime this summer. It’s yet to be ultimately determined, and we’re ready to go.”
Hornbuckle, who succeeded Jim Murren as CEO in 2020, had previously expressed reservations about Japan due to the impact of Covid-19. But in the call, he said, “We’ve been in that marketplace a long time. We’re a believer in Asia. We’re a believer in Japan.
“We’ve spent a lot of time and energy becoming the sole one standing at the gate, if you will, in Osaka. And so how long this all takes? Obviously, Covid has hit there as equally as hard and there are a great deal of sensitivities around it in that market.
“We haven’t had our people on the ground there for a better part of nine months, so it’s going to take some time to rebound, but we have the intent and I believe the government still has the same intent of moving forward.”
