Japan approves country’s first casino

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Japan’s government on April 14 approved a controversial plan to open the country’s first casino in the city of Osaka as it seeks to lure more foreign tourists.

Shinzo Abe, the longest-serving Prime Minister of Japan made huge efforts to open casinos in the country. He was assassinated last year.

The Parliament way back in 2016 passed a law commonly known as the Integrated Resort (IR) Promotion Law. It stated that casino gambling would be permitted, but only inside an IR.

In July 2018, another bill followed, known as the IR Maintenance Law paving way for legal.operations of casinos in the third largest economy in the world.

The casino resort approved yesterday will include conference facilities, an exhibition hall, a hotel and a theatre and is expected to open as early as autumn 2029, four years after Osaka hosts a World Expo.

“It is expected to contribute to the local economy and the economic growth of all of Japan after the Osaka-Kansai Expo and become a tourism hub for transmitting the charms of Japan,” Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said at a meeting of the government’s IR, or integrated resort, promotion panel according to reports. The plan was formally approved by Land, Infrastructure and Transport Minister Tetsuo Saito.

The resort will be operated by Osaka IR KK, established by the Japanese subsidiary of U.S. casino operator MGM Resorts International, Japan’s Orix Corp. financial services group, and a number of regional investors.

Osaka is close to other attractions such as Universal Studios Japan and the tourist destination of Kyoto. Japan also intends to target to cut into Macau’s share in gambling revenues.

The panel said the plan meets the government’s requirements, including financial stability, contribution to the local economy and consideration of anti-addiction measures.

The planned 1.8 trillion ($13.6 billion) project, submitted last year, will be located on an artificial island and is projected to have 20 million visitors and 520 billion yen ($3.9 billion) in revenue annually. Most of the revenue is expected to come from the casino.

Past attempts to build casinos have failed, often because of strong public opposition to gambling, even though state-run wagering on horse and boat racing is extremely popular.

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