Senior executives from consortium partners MGM Resorts and Orix Corp, alongside local politicians, broke ground on their US$9 billion Osaka integrated resort project on Thursday – some nine years after Japan passed its IR promotion Act.
A groundbreaking ceremony held on the Yumeshima Island site – the same location as the current Osaka Expo – represented the most significant step forward yet for the development which is slated for completion in 2030. Local media reports said officials broke barrels of sake to commemorate the milestone.
In comments reported by Bloomberg, Ed Bowers – the President and CEO of MGM Japan and President Global Development of MGM Resorts International – said, “I’ve been working on this for more than 15 years, and no one is more happy than I am to see this happen. It’s not been an easy road and we will continue to see challenges until and after this opens.”
MGM Osaka will when complete become Japan’s only licensed IR following an exhausting multi-year bid process that ultimately saw only four companies in two prefectures submit bids to the central government. In the end only Osaka was given the green light to proceed after Nagasaki was rejected due to concerns over financing and the casino operations experience of its chosen partner.
Other major international operators such as Las Vegas Sands had previously withdrawn their interest in Japan due to uncertainty over the bid process while Yokohama – which had been seen as a leading candidate – was a late withdrawal following the election of an anti-IR mayor.
It has been estimated that the Osaka IR could generate around US$6 billion in gross gaming revenues each year given its substantial footprint and monopoly over legal casino gaming in Japan.
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