Wakayama governor urges prefectural assembly to vote in favour of IR

Wakayama’s governor hopes to submit IR plans to central government before the April 28 deadline.

Japan.- Yoshinobu Nisaka, governor of Japan’s Wakayama Prefecture, has called on the prefectural council to follow the City Council’s lead and vote for the local integrated casino resort (IR) plan in order to be able to submit an application to national government before the April 28 deadline.

The city council voted on the IR district development plan late last month. However, The Wakayama prefectural assembly committee has previously expressed concern that planning and fundraising for the project remain unclear.

Nisaka said: “It would be a big problem if the assembly does not vote in favour of the prefecture submitting the IR plan to the central government.”

The governor added that if the prefectural council “refuses to submit the local IR proposal to the central authority”, it would be “responsible for sabotaging the IR plan”.

The prefecture’s chosen private sector partner, Clairvest Neem Ventures, will raise JPY470bn (US$4.09bn) to invest in the integrated resort, which the prefectural government hopes will be open by 2026.

Bally’s Corp seeks to enter Japan IR contest with casino resort in Fukuoka

A new city could enter the contest to develop an integrated resort in Japan. The US-based Bally’s Corp has revealed it wants to develop an integrated resort in Fukuoka, on the northern shore of Japan’s Kyushu Island.

Bally said it has plans for a JPY480m (US$3.9bn) IR that would include 2,000 hotel rooms and a 15,000-square-meter (161,459-square-foot) casino. It said the complex could serve about 4.6 million customers a year, most of them domestic, with an estimated annual gross profit of JPY71bn.

Christopher Jewett, vice president of corporate development at Bally’s said: “The project can raise the stature of this historic region into a truly international destination in keeping with its long and rich heritage.”

However, the mayor of Fukuoka has reportedly said he is not interested in hosting IRs in the metropolis.

Up to three IRs may be allowed in Japan under the existing liberalisation plan. Nagasaki and Osaka are also currently likely to submit corresponding casino resort applications.