16.04.2023
Japan on Friday (April 14) approved a plan to build the country’s first casino in Osaka, despite opinion polls showing many people worry about gambling addiction and crime.
(Deutsche Welle Chinese website) Japan on Friday (April 14) approved a plan to build the country’s first casino at the giant resort on Yumeshima, an artificially reclaimed island in Osaka Bay. The 1.8 trillion yen ($13.5 billion) casino will open in 2029 and is aimed at attracting domestic and foreign tourists.
Planned to host the World Expo in 2025, Dream Island’s mega-resort complex will include a hotel, convention centre, shopping mall, museum and ferry terminal, with a nearby helicopter landing pad for more luxurious guests.
New law to allow gambling from 2018
Previously, casinos and other private gambling activities were illegal in Japan.But the Integrated Resort (IR) Law, introduced in 2018, allows casino games such as poker or kabala to be played at officially sanctioned venues as a way to attract tourists.
Japan is a valuable market for casino operators, with a wealthy population of 126 million surrounded by wealthy Asian gambling enthusiasts, but opinion polls show many worry about gambling addiction and crime.
U.S. casino operator MGM Resorts International and local partner ORIX are leading the IR project in Osaka, with each owning a 40 percent stake in the new company that manages the integrated resort. Another 20 companies hold the remaining 20 percent, according to a local government document, which said Mitsubishi UFJ Bank and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation will provide 550 billion yen in project financing for the resort.
Osaka is a large city in the Kansai region of Japan
Japanese Prime Minister is optimistic about the gaming business
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said on Friday that the project will contribute to economic growth in the Kansai region around Osaka and the greater Japan region after the 2025 World Expo. Japan aims to achieve a rebound in tourism consumption after the epidemic. According to the project document, the resort has an annual revenue target of 520 billion yen, mainly from gaming operations, and is expected to attract 6 million international tourists and 14 million domestic visitors.
In this competition, only Osaka City and Nagasaki Prefecture submitted bid plans by the April 2022 deadline. The Japanese government said on Friday it needed more time to review plans for a casino in Nagasaki led by Casino International, without saying why.
(Reuters)
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