Caesars under fire over political campaign funding
The casino company argues that there’s nothing wrong with buying tickets for politician’s social gatherings.
Japan.- Caesars Entertainment is desperately looking to land in Japan should the Integrated Resorts (IR) Implementation Bill gets passed, but is now under fire over alleged political campaign funding. An advisor for the casino giant bought tickets to a politicians’ social gathering (a common fundraising method for political campaigns in the country) and got accused of bribery by one of the largest news magazines in Japan.
“The recent Bunshun article, as it relates to Caesars Entertainment, focuses on the long-standing and legal practice in Japan of buying tickets to political fundraising events,” Jan Jones Blackhurst, executive vice-president of public policy and corporate responsibility at Caesars Entertainment, responded to the Shukan Bunshun magazine article and added: “We believe that the purchases of such tickets by our consultant over many years were made in accordance with the laws of Japan and other jurisdictions, as well as in accordance with our own robust compliance policies and procedures.”
Furthermore, according to Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasutoshi Nishimura, member of one of the parties’ that hosted gatherings attended by the Caesars advisor, asserted in Diet testimony on Thursday that his presence did not constitute any violation of the law and should not be viewed as a problem.
The IR bill is under debate in the House of Councillors and is set to be voted on before the current Diet session’s extension ends on July 22nd.
