Nagasaki prefecture has confirmed to Inside Asian Gaming that a rule preventing anyone holding a minimum 5% stake in any local IR bid from bidding for other locations is “an original rule made by Nagasaki prefecture.”
Nagasaki officials announced in January that any 5% or more stakeholders still involved in any of the prefecture’s ongoing bids as part of its RFP would not be allowed to participate elsewhere as of June 2021. The rule was reiterated again this week via a press release in the wake of last week’s announcement that the original five candidates to develop an IR in Nagasaki had been cut to three: Casinos Austria International Japan, NIKI Chyau Fwu (Parkview) Group and Oshidori Consortium.
Contacted by IAG on Wednesday to clarify some points regarding the upcoming second round of screening in its RFP selection process for an IR operator, a Nagasaki official said, “After submitting the second round screening documents in June 2021, those who plan to fund 5% or more of the project are not allowed to participate in another private operator selection process related to specified complex tourist facilities [in Japan].”
Asked about the basis of this 5% rule, the official said, “There are no previous examples to go off of, so this is an original rule made by Nagasaki prefecture. It was decided based on consultation with legal counsel and others employed for the RFP and other processes.”
An industry stakeholder commented, “It makes sense. You don’t see professional athletes playing for multiple teams. Even if one company applied for multiple candidate locations, it would be difficult to be selected. I think it’s best to focus on just one location.”
Nagasaki’s selection schedule going forward will include a detailed integrity character investigation in May, followed by submission of additional operator documents in June and presentations by applicants in August. The successful candidate is expected to be announced at the end of August. Nagasaki emphasized that the documentation required for this round would be final proposals from each of the candidates.
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