MGM expects news on Osaka IR licence by September
Jonathan Halkyard, MGM’s chief financial officer, said the company hopes to start work in early 2023.
Japan.- MGM expects to have news on its integrated resort application in Japan as soon as September.
The period for IR applications in Japan closed in April with only Osaka and Nagasaki submitting bids.
MGM Resorts International is part of a consortium with ORIX that was selected as Osaka’s IR partner for its bid. MGM-Orix has proposed to invest JPY1tn (US$9.1bn).
Jonathan Halkyard, MGM’s chief financial officer, pointed out: “We would expect to be awarded a licence in the fall. We would then be underway as we get into 2023.”
He added: “The company will wait until things are a bit more advanced before getting into the specifics about the project’s cost and programme.”
Japan highlights importance of IRs to tourism reactivation
As previously reported by Focus Gaming News, a Japanese government paper – “Basic Policy on Economic and Fiscal Management and Reform 2022” – highlights the importance of integrated resorts to the country. It says the construction of IRs responds to a need to reactivate tourism after the Covid-19 pandemic, which has paralysed the sector for two years.
The document reaffirms the commitment of authorities to vigorously promote the development of IRs and the regulation of casinos. However, the first resorts are unlikely to start operating until the end of the current decade.
