{"id":777031146,"date":"2025-09-02T10:40:55","date_gmt":"2025-09-02T13:40:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777031146"},"modified":"2026-04-21T19:34:00","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T22:34:00","slug":"hokkaido-cities-show-support-in-hosting-an-integrated-resort","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/hokkaido-cities-show-support-in-hosting-an-integrated-resort","title":{"rendered":"Hakodate also interested in hosting casino on Hokkaido"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The mayor said the city would be interested in hosting an integrated resort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Japan.- Another city in Hokkaido has emerged as a possible contender to host an integrated resort (IR) with a casino amid the anticipated reopening of the national licensing process. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hokkaido prefecture launched a survey of its 179 municipalities<\/a> last month after Suguru Kanazawa, the mayor of Tomakomai, expressed interest in proposing the city as a host if the national government opens a new application window.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the Hokkaido Shimbun, Hakodate mayor Jun Oizumi has said that the city is also interested in hosting an IR but has no plan at the moment. Meanwhile, Katsuhiro Akimoto, mayor of Sapporo, has said that the city’s government was in favour of Hokkaido hosting an IR but it was not interested in bidding itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The last application window for bids to host casinos in Japan led to just one approval: MGM Osaka on Yumeshima island. The development is a joint venture<\/a> between the Orix Group, MGM Resorts International and several smaller-scale Japanese investors. But it\u2019s been reported the the central government may open new applications for two more IR licences<\/a>, potentially reviving its initial plan to approve three developments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2019, Hokkaido chose not to participate in Japan\u2019s initial round of IR bidding, mainly due to environmental concerns. In June, the Hokkaido Economic Federation expressed support<\/a> for a new bid from the island.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n\t\t\tSee also:<\/span><\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tSee also:<\/span> Hokkaido launches survey on casino plans<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The mayor said the city would be interested in hosting an integrated resort.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":218,"featured_media":19199,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"Multiple cities within Hokkaido, Japan, are expressing renewed interest in hosting an Integrated Resort (IR) with a casino, following the anticipated reopening of the national licensing process. While Tomakomai and Hakodate mayors have indicated interest, Sapporo's mayor supports a Hokkaido IR but not a direct bid. This development signals potential for additional IR licenses beyond the approved MGM Osaka project.","focusai_entities":"Suguru Kanazawa, Jun Oizumi, Katsuhiro Akimoto, Hokkaido Shimbun, MGM Osaka, Orix Group, MGM Resorts International, Hokkaido Economic Federation","focusai_location":"Japan, Hokkaido, Tomakomai, Hakodate, Sapporo, Osaka, Yumeshima island","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (0.85), compliance_legal (0.7), operator_casino (0.95), investor_analyst (0.95), supplier_vendor (0.8), journalist_researcher (0.9)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"IR Licensing Timeline?","query":"What is the anticipated timeline for the Japanese central government to formally reopen the IR licensing application window, and what are the key criteria for new bids?"},{"label":"Hokkaido IR Feasibility?","query":"Given Hokkaido's prior environmental concerns, what specific governance frameworks and mitigation strategies are being considered to ensure new IR proposals address these issues effectively?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,16338],"tags":[29,23632,470],"class_list":["post-777031146","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\/777031146","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\/218"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777031146"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777031146\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777031155,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777031146\/revisions\/777031155"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19199"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777031146"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777031146"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777031146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}