{"id":777025757,"date":"2025-04-25T10:13:28","date_gmt":"2025-04-25T13:13:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777025757"},"modified":"2026-04-21T23:32:29","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T02:32:29","slug":"mgm-osaka-ir-construction-begins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/mgm-osaka-ir-construction-begins","title":{"rendered":"MGM Osaka IR construction begins"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Construction is expected to finish in the summer of 2030.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p>Japan.- Yesterday (April 24) saw the groundbreaking ceremony for <strong>MGM Osaka<\/strong>, Japan&#8217;s first integrated resort with a casino. The event organised by Osaka IR KK was attended by <strong>Hirofumi Yoshimura<\/strong>, the governor of Osaka, along with representatives from MGM Resorts International and Japan&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/toyonori-takahashi-orix-we-believe-the-ir-will-attract-many-visitors-and-tourists-to-osaka\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Orix Corp<\/a>, the main partners in the project, and from smaller-scale Japanese investors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The IR will be built on Yumeshima, an artificial island in Osaka Bay in the Kansai region. It is expected to <a href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/osaka-ir-project-secures-us3-4bn-loan\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">cost JPY1.27tn (US$ 8.9bn)<\/a>&nbsp;and is anticipated to generate annual revenue of JPY520bn, of which about 80 per cent is expected to come from the casino. Construction is expected to finish in the summer of 2030, and operations are slated to commence by autumn that year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>MGM Osaka will feature a hotel with around 2,500 rooms. It will also include about 400,000 square feet of conference facilities, 330,000 square feet of exhibition space and a theatre with around 3,500 seats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To lessen the impact of construction on Expo 2025, which is taking place on Yumeshima until October 13 this year, construction work will be reduced on days when many visitors are expected, and the use of heavy machinery will be put back until after the Expo ends.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"900\" height=\"506\" src=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2025\/04\/3e42e084-655d-4788-b569-150d2ce164fe-large16x9_MP3-900x506.jpg\" alt=\"MGM Osaka.\" class=\"wp-image-777025760\" srcset=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2025\/04\/3e42e084-655d-4788-b569-150d2ce164fe-large16x9_MP3-900x506.jpg 900w, https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2025\/04\/3e42e084-655d-4788-b569-150d2ce164fe-large16x9_MP3.jpg 1015w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A render of MGM Osaka IR<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Wakayama governor still interested in hosting Japanese casino IR<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Wakayama governor&nbsp;<strong>Shuhei Kishimoto<\/strong> has said that the prefecture would consider bidding to host an integrated resort (IR) with a casino if Japan opens a new round of applications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Wakayama was initially one of the bidders for Japan\u2019s first round of casino licences but it withdrew its proposal after the&nbsp;<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wakayama-prefecture-rejects-ir-plan\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">prefectural assembly voted against<\/a>&nbsp;the area development plan in 2022. While the national government has yet to announce a second round of applications, Kishimoto&nbsp;said the prefectural government is gathering information on potential opportunities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In November, the Japan Tourism Agency sent a questionnaire to the prefecture to sound out its interest in future IR proposals. Nagasaki prefecture, which submitted a bid during the first round of bids but did not receive approval, also received one.<\/p>\n\n\n<div id=\"see-also-container\">\n\t\t\t<span class=\"see-also-label\">See also:<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"related-article\">\n\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"related-article__thumbnail\" src=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2021\/08\/httpswww.ggrasia.com60pct-macau-airport-august-flights-cancelled-operator-300x200.jpg\"><\/p>\n<p class=\"related-article__text\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"see-also-label-strong\">See also:<\/span> <a href='https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/macau-casino-spend-per-visitor-rises-in-february-analysts-say'>Macau casino spend per visitor rises in February, analysts say<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Construction is expected to finish in the summer of 2030.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":777025764,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"The groundbreaking ceremony for MGM Osaka, Japan's first integrated resort with a casino, has commenced on Yumeshima, with operations slated for autumn 2030. This JPY1.27tn project, a partnership between MGM Resorts International and Orix Corp, projects JPY520bn in annual revenue, predominantly from gaming. Concurrently, Wakayama and Nagasaki prefectures are exploring future IR opportunities, indicating potential for further market expansion.","focusai_entities":"MGM Osaka, Osaka IR KK, Hirofumi Yoshimura, MGM Resorts International, Orix Corp, Shuhei Kishimoto, Japan Tourism Agency, Wakayama Prefecture, Nagasaki Prefecture","focusai_location":"Japan, Osaka, Yumeshima, Kansai, Wakayama, Nagasaki","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (1.0), regulator (0.9), compliance_legal (0.8), operator_casino (1.0), affiliate_publisher (0.7), investor_analyst (1.0), supplier_vendor (0.9), journalist_researcher (1.0)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"IR Project Financing Details?","query":"What are the specific financing structures and debt-to-equity ratios for the JPY1.27tn MGM Osaka IR project, and what is the expected return on invested capital for MGM Resorts International and Orix Corp?"},{"label":"Future IR Licensing Rounds?","query":"Given the interest from Wakayama and Nagasaki, what is the national government's timeline and criteria for potentially opening a second round of integrated resort licensing applications in Japan?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,16338],"tags":[29,23632,470],"class_list":["post-777025757","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-casino-news","category-east-asia-news","tag-casino","tag-integrated-resorts","tag-japan"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777025757","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=777025757"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777025757\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777025807,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777025757\/revisions\/777025807"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/777025764"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777025757"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777025757"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777025757"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}