Hokkaido business groups to urge governor to accelerate work on casino resort bid
Eight business organisations are pressing Hokkaido to advance integrated resort plans ahead of Japan’s second application window in 2027.
Japan.- Eight business organisations in Hokkaido reportedly intend to ask Governor Naomichi Suzuki to accelerate the prefecture’s plans to prepare a proposal for an integrated resort (IR) with a casino. Groups including the Hokkaido Economic Federation intend to lodge a submission on September 8, local media report.
The business community is concerned that Hokkaido may end up moving too slowly to meet the application window due to a gubernatorial election scheduled for the spring. Japan’s second IR application window will run from May 6 to November 5, 2027.
Suzuki ultimately decided the prefecture would not participate in the first national application round, which ran from October 2021 to April 2022.
Last month, prefecture authorities said three overseas casino operators and 12 domestic companies had responded to questionnaires weighing investor interest in developing an IR. Tomakomai, an industrial port city on the prefecture’s southern coast, remains the leading candidate for such a project.
Japan currently has one approved IR, MGM Osaka, which is under construction and scheduled to open at the end of 2030. Meanwhile, Omura in Nagasaki Prefecture has launched a feasibility study for a potential bid in the next licensing window.
