A leader of the casino push in Japan’s National Diet says he expects the legalization bill supported by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to pass during the current special session, paving the way for a possible opening of the first gaming resorts in time for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, whose governor opposes them.
Mr Abe, who visited Singapore’s casinos in May, has said his Liberal Democratic Party is looking to clear the bill in the autumn session, which concludes on 30th November. Koichi Hagiuda, an aide to Mr Abe and secretary-general of the Diet caucus backing the bill, told Bloomberg the plan is to secure approval in the House of Representatives, where the LDP holds a solid majority, “in the first half of October,” then move toward winning over the upper House of Councillors, where the LDP and its coalition partners are less dominant.
“The government is preparing for this with great drive,” he said.
The bill was introduced last December, reportedly with cross-party and opposition support, but stalled during the Diet’s regular session, which ended in June. Assuming it passes in the current session, lawmakers then will move to tackle the complex of thorny issues covering the bidding process, licensing, regulation, taxation and local government involvement. Mr Hagiuda said this could happen via legislation presented in the next regular session, which begins in January.
Analysts expect an initial three- to four-casino market would generate gaming revenues of upwards of US$15 billion a year, and an A-list of global operators say they’ll bid for licenses in Tokyo, Osaka and elsewhere. Mr Hagiuda said major cities should have priority before more remote locations are considered and told Bloomberg that Tokyo, Osaka and Yokohama are the strongest candidates. Officials in Osaka have been the most outspoken in their support and are already in negotiations with a number of major operators.
However, this is not the case in Tokyo, the capital, the country’s largest and most affluent city, and its premier tourist destination, the metropolitan area seen as crucial to realizing the vision Mr Abe and the LDP hold for resort casinos as an economic development tool.
Tokyo Gov. Yoichi Masuzoe, who took office in February, is cool to the idea and has said pursuing a casino is “not at the top” of his agenda. Local officials, meanwhile, say preparations for the Olympics have put the casino on the back burner, and it’s reported that Mr Masuzoe has downgraded the team tasked with preparing for one. The run-up to the Olympics also is driving up construction costs, which have risen so steeply the government is considering scaling back its plans for the Olympics, officials have told Reuters.
These costs are likely to emerge as a major concern for gaming operators, says Satoshi Okabe, a senior manager at Dentsu, Japan’s largest advertising agency, which counts the city of Tokyo as a client.
“The reality is that preparations for the Olympics are going to be pretty challenging. Casinos are secondary,” he told Reuters. “Building costs are going to spike and foreign casino operators are going to find investment returns inefficient.”
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