IR bids: how is the situation in Hokkaido

There are some enough reasons to end with the local government and interested IR operators dream

Japan.- Tomorrow may be the end of Hokkaido’s resort dream. The Governor Naomichi Suzuki is expected to announce that his prefecture will not be going forward with an IR bid.

Although Hokkaido is one of the cities that best seen for Japanese regional markets to develop an IR, there are different aspects that seem to end with its proposal. 

The Hokkaido Liberal Democratic Party held its annual conference last week and discussed about this issue. After the meeting, they were unable to come to a unified stance. This lack of political unity is determinant for the future of the development.

The second reason is related directly with the local people. There is a big group of residents that are really expectant with the idea of a new resort and everything around it. But also there are a lot of concerns arguing that it can generates gambling problems.

Finally, there is an environmental situation. The extensive measures that would likely be needed to protect rare species will take more time than expected. These three reasons can be enough to end with the local government and interested IR operators.