Nagasaki moves into second round of IR tender
At the second stage, the IR bidders will present business strategies and proposals for tackling gambling addiction issues.
Japan.- Nagasaki’s prefectural government is advancing into the second stage of its process to choose a partner for its bid for one of Japan’s planned three licences.
Oshidori International Holdings, Casinos Austria International and Niki Chau Fwu Group have entered the second stage, in which each company will have to show its business strategies and plans to tackle gambling addiction issues.
Nagasaki is due to select its final candidate in August. The prefecture will then make a submission by 2022 in its bid for permission to develop an Integrated Resort.
The successful IR partner will have to pay JPY158m (US$1.5m) for the Request for proposal process and JPY10m (US$92,000) for a background check.
Anti-IR groups criticise the process selection
A group dubbed the Citizen’s Association to Think About the Casino Issue has criticised the lack of information regarding Nagasaki’s bid to develop an integrated resort.
The anti-IR group had asked for a summary of the meeting in which Nagasaki’s prefectural government whittled down five initial contenders to three operators. However, the request was rejected by the prefecture, which argued that it could harm the business interests of the companies involved.
The authorities also said revealing the summary could affect the neutrality of the selection process.
Nagasaki still seems like the most prepared city to win one of the three licences as the prefecture launched a series of new initiatives to prepare for a possible IR development.
In May, the Kyushu Regional Strategy Council (KRSC), composed of the governors of Kyushu prefectures and Yamaguchi prefecture as well as major regional economic groups, held a meeting to launch the Kyushu Addiction Measures Network Council.
The main goal of the council is to better deal with addiction issues and to handle concerns raised by IR opponents.
Last year, the prefecture announced the establishment of a new body to hold events and seminars for local businesses and create foundational strategies to promote effective business networking opportunities.
The city also created a consortium that aims to develop an institution for issues related to human resources and international tourism.
In April, Nagasaki’s prefectural government also announced it was seeking to form a consortium of public institutions to train young people to work at the city’s possible future IR.
Twenty officials have held a non-public meeting to start discussing the development and structure of the future education consortium.
Hideya Inoue, an academic specialist in international hotel management and dean of the Department of International Tourism at Nagasaki International University was selected as the chairman of the consortium.
