Although Osaka extended its submission period until April 6, no fresh private-sector suitor has come forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Japan.- MGM-Orix remains the only contender in Osaka\u2019s IR tender<\/strong> despite the extension of the deadline for submissions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On March 19, the prefecture made changes to its IR implementation policy<\/em><\/a>\u00a0to consider new submissions from potential private partners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The government also announced some relaxations on requirements<\/strong> regarding space for meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions (MICE) and hotel accommodation to allow for a gradual expansion of the IR.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, no additional potential private operator partners have come forward, leaving a partnership between\u00a0MGM Resorts International and ORIX (MGM-Orix) as the only firm participant<\/strong>\u00a0in Osaka\u2019s IR tender.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to the prefectural government\u2019s timetable, the final selection of a private-sector partner for Osaka\u2019s IR scheme is due in September of this year<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Japan will grant licences to up to three casino resorts.<\/strong> Osaka expects to submit its IR development plan in April 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Akiko Fujimura<\/strong>, the representative director of an animal welfare group, has announced that she will run for mayor in Yokohama City.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Fujimura stated if she wins, she will immediately cancel the city’s IR project. A similar proposal was made by\u00a0Masataka Ota, another anti-IR candidate\u00a0<\/strong>for the August mayoral elections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fujimura said: \u201cI have heard of the disappointing policy to build an IR in Yokohama City<\/strong>, and have decided to run for election.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The news comes a month after\u00a0a group of residents established a new IR opposition group<\/em><\/a>\u00a0called\u00a0\u201cYokohama Citizens Association for a Mayor Opposing a Casino\u201d.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n As regards the incumbent mayor and IR supporter,\u00a0Fumiko Hayashi, she has not yet announced whether she will run for another term<\/a><\/em>.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Although Osaka extended its submission period until April 6, no fresh private-sector suitor has come forward.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":16625,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"Osaka's Integrated Resort (IR) tender has concluded its extended submission period with MGM-Orix remaining the sole private-sector contender, despite relaxed MICE and hotel requirements. Concurrently, the Yokohama IR project faces heightened political opposition as a new anti-IR mayoral candidate, Akiko Fujimura, announces her bid with a pledge to cancel the development.","focusai_entities":"MGM-Orix, MGM Resorts International, ORIX, Akiko Fujimura, Masataka Ota, Fumiko Hayashi, Yokohama Citizens Association for a Mayor Opposing a Casino","focusai_location":"Japan, Osaka, Yokohama","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (0.85), compliance_legal (0.7), operator_casino (0.95), investor_analyst (0.95), supplier_vendor (0.75), journalist_researcher (0.8)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Osaka IR: Next Steps?","query":"Given MGM-Orix is the sole bidder, what specific governance frameworks and regulatory compliance milestones must be met by September for Osaka's IR development plan to proceed?"},{"label":"Yokohama IR: Political Risk?","query":"What is the projected impact of the anti-IR mayoral candidate's platform on the Yokohama IR project's viability, and what are the potential financial implications for stakeholders if the project is cancelled?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[157,16338,158],"tags":[23632,1616],"class_list":["post-16624","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-news","category-east-asia-news","category-slider-home","tag-integrated-resorts","tag-mgm"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16624","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/176"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16624"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16624\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16655,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16624\/revisions\/16655"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16625"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16624"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16624"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16624"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}A new anti-IR mayoral candidate intends to run for Yokohama<\/h2>\n\n\n\n