Osaka already building a blueprint
Where will the Japanese government locate the country’s first legal casino resorts? According to the Japan Times, leaders in Osaka are excited at the prospect of hosting a multibillion-dollar integrated resort. But officials in Yokohama take the opposite view.
As lawmakers from the Liberal Democratic Party debate ongoing legislation that could bring casino gaming to Japan, the Osaka Prefecture, the city’s local tourism bureau and other organizations say they’re all in.Starting in April, politicians will join the business community to build a marketing strategy for a resort on Yumeshima Island in Osaka Bay. The Times reported that plans are already in the works for an adjoining convention center, hotels, shopping facilities and other attractions.
Meanwhile, Yokohama Mayor Fumiko Hayashi has stepped back from her former position of support for an IR in that city. “A policy to deal with gambling addiction problems is extremely important. This is what the city needs to first discuss,” she said. “Hosting an IR facility is just one way to promote local economic growth.”
Part I of Japan’s two-part gaming bill was passed last month, approving the concept of integrated resorts with gaming. Part II of the legislation, which will lay the groundwork for the operation, taxation and regulation of IRs, is expected to be submitted to the Japanese parliament or Diet sometime this year.
Hayashi has said that timeline is not feasible. But Osaka Governor Ichiro Matsui says Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s ruling coalition can expect support from Nippon Ishin no Kai, the political party he heads, to pass the bill in short order. He also pressed his advantage last October by meeting with George Tanasijevich, president of Marina Bay Sands, a Singapore-based unit of U.S. casino operator Las Vegas Sands. According to the Nikkei Asian Review, the pair “met in the governor’s office where Tanasijevich, with a three-centimeter-thick proposal in hand, animatedly laid out his plans, including a casino and hotel facilities with thousands of rooms.”
Bill Hornbuckle, president of MGM Resorts International, also visited Matsui in November to express his interest in expanding into Osaka.
Among the public, however, there continues to be widespread public opposition to casino gaming, spurred by fears about gambling addiction, money laundering and crime.
The LDP has pledged to “discuss specific details on how IRs will be run as well as to come up with policies for dealing with concerns about an increase in gambling addicts,” said Policy Research Council Chairman Toshimitsu Motegi.
