Osaka governor Hirofumi Yoshimura says the delay won’t harm the project’s long-term success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Japan.- Osaka’s governor\u00a0Hirofumi Yoshimura\u00a0<\/strong>has expressed confidence that delay in approving Japan’s first casino resort project won’t hamper its success.\u00a0Osaka had originally hoped to launch its IR for the 2025 Osaka-Kansai Expo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In an interview with Bloomberg, Yoshimura said the delay would have minimal impact on the integrated resort’s prospects. Yoshimura emphasised Osaka’s intention to distinguish itself by leveraging the rich history and cultural heritage of the region and the nation as a whole.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Following\u00a0government approval in April<\/a>, Osaka’s plans for the integrated resort, encompassing hotels, entertainment venues, conference centres, and a casino, are finally advancing. About\u00a020 million people<\/strong>\u00a0a year are expected to visit the resort, including 6 million visitors from abroad, generating sales of approximately JPY520bn annually, with JPY420bn from gambling revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The project is worth JPY1.08tn (US$8.38bn) and is backed by\u00a0a consortium<\/a>\u00a0that includes MGM Resorts International and Orix. MGM Resorts CEO\u00a0Bill Hornbuckle\u00a0<\/strong>confirmed that construction is slated to commence late this year or early in 2024, with the resort slated to\u00a0open in the first half of 2030<\/a> \u2013 a slight delay from the previously targeted 2029 launch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Public concerns over addiction and public safety contributed to the prolonged approval process. The country currently permits gambling on horse, bike and motorboat racing, and online betting experienced a surge during the pandemic. Pachinko pinball parlours remain widespread but declining in popularity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n See also:<\/strong>\u00a0Macau to face competition from future Osaka IR, analysts say<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Meanwhile, the future of\u00a0Nagasaki\u2019s IR plans<\/strong>\u00a0remains uncertain.\u00a0Japan\u2019s central government has yet to make a decision on the city’s application, and no timeline has been provided.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nagasaki submitted its IR District Development Plan<\/a> alongside Osaka\u2019s last year, aiming to partner with Casinos Austria International Japan Inc<\/a> and open the IR by 2027. However, funding for the JPY438.3bn (US$3.8bn) development has not been publicly confirmed and the delay in approval makes a 2027 opening unlikely.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Osaka governor Hirofumi Yoshimura says the delay won’t harm the project’s long-term success.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":17674,"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 first integrated resort project, backed by MGM Resorts and Orix, faces a slight delay with an anticipated H1 2030 opening, though Governor Yoshimura remains confident in its long-term success and significant economic impact, projecting JPY420bn annually from gambling revenue. Meanwhile, Nagasaki's IR plans remain uncertain due to unconfirmed funding and pending central government approval, making its 2027 target unlikely and highlighting ongoing regulatory complexities in Japan's nascent casino market.","focusai_entities":"Hirofumi Yoshimura, MGM Resorts International, Orix, Bill Hornbuckle, Casinos Austria International Japan Inc","focusai_location":"Japan, Osaka, Nagasaki","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (1.0), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (0.9), operator_casino (1.0), investor_analyst (1.0), supplier_vendor (0.9), journalist_researcher (1.0)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"IR Regulatory Hurdles?","query":"What specific regulatory hurdles and public sentiment factors contributed to the prolonged approval process for Japan's IRs, and how might these impact future B2C licensing and operational frameworks?"},{"label":"Osaka IR Financials?","query":"Given the JPY1.08tn investment and JPY520bn annual sales projection for Osaka, what are the revised IRR and payback period expectations for the MGM\/Orix consortium, considering the H1 2030 launch and JPY420bn gambling revenue?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[157,16338],"tags":[23632],"class_list":["post-777005360","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-news","category-east-asia-news","tag-integrated-resorts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777005360","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=777005360"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777005360\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777005368,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777005360\/revisions\/777005368"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17674"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777005360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777005360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777005360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Nagasaki IR plans still waiting for approval<\/h2>\n\n\n\n