Japan’s casino resort plans in Osaka and Nagasaki are on hold due to concerns over their influence on local elections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Japan.- The Japanese government has postponed an announcement regarding the fate of the Integrated Resort (IR) District Development Plans submitted by Osaka <\/strong>and Nagasaki <\/strong>until after local elections in April. There was particularly a concern that political parties in Osaka would make opposition to the IR plans a major issue in the elections for governor and city mayor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Questions had been raised about the lack of response from national government since both IR proposals<\/a> have been in the hands of national authorities since April. However, campaigning began across Japan last week head of local elections in nine prefectures on April 9. A second round of local elections to elect mayors and assembly members in cities, towns and villages will take place on April 23.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Osaka has bid to host an integrated resort with MGM Resorts International and ORIX as its IR partner<\/a>. MGM-Orix has proposed to invest JPY1.08tn (US$8.38bn) with a target opening date is 2029. MGM president and CEO Bill Hornbuckle<\/strong> has said that if approval does not come soon<\/a>, the objective of a 2029 opening would be missed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nagasaki chose Casinos Austria International Japan Inc<\/strong> as its partner for its bid<\/a> and expects its IR to open in 2027. The planned cost for the development of the IR is JPY438.3bn (US$3.8bn)<\/a>, including JPY175.3bn in equity costs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n There have been questions about funding for the project since Credit Suisse Group <\/strong>had been cited as one of several potential \u201cfinancial arrangers\u201d. The governor recently stated that he will “collect information”<\/a> on how the sale of the bank affects the fundraising plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n