The Japanese government has given cabinet approval to the Development and Promotion Ordinance for Integrated Resorts, locking in place a range of key regulations governing the size and scope of the nation’s first integrated resorts.
The contents of the cabinet order are the same as those within the previously announced ordinance draft, including limiting the floor space of the casino to no more than 3% of the entire IR facility and restricting advertisements for casinos to the border check areas of ports and airports for arriving international visitors.
An IR’s hotel must have a total guest room area of at least 100,000 square meters, while the size of the international conference and exhibition halls will be calculated together but also expected to be on a scale much greater than anything previously seen in Japan.
Further, operators will be required to report information on guests who exchange over JPY1 million (US$9,050) in cash or chips in order to combat money laundering.
Local governments hoping to make an IR bid will apply to the national government with an area development plan, along with their operator partner, based on this order.
The newly approved ordinance is based on the Act on Promotion of Development of Specified Complex Tourist Facilities Areas announced on 27 July 2018 and lays the foundations for IR facilities. The enforcement ordinance draft, first announced in February, has now implemented the public feedback phase and was put together by the IR Promotion Headquarters. The implementation process will start in phases from 1 April 2019.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was at the IR Promotion Headquarters assembly held in the Prime Minister’s office prior to the cabinet meeting, commented on Tuesday, “We are hoping for a scale and quality not achieved before in long-stay tourism to attract tourists from all over the world.
“We are working hard to establish a Casino Administration Committee and establish basic policies in the future as we move toward realizing our dream of being a key tourist destination.”
