Casino legislation in Japan delayed due to elections
The long expected casino bill will have to wait until 2016’s second half at the earliest.
Japan.- According to Hokkaido Shimbun, the Japanese media outlet recent reports, senior officials in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) said that the upcoming elections of the House of Councillors to be held this summer will delay the Asian country casino legislation.
The process requires passage of an Integrated Resort (IR) promotion bill that would amend the constitution, which would allow for the passage of a second bill that would rule how the country’s casino industry would be managed.
On the other hand, a senior LDP official told the Hokkaido Shimbun there was “no chance” of the IR bill passing in the ordinary Diet session that commenced on Monday, since there was “no time for it” before the legislature’s upper house elections. On the same note, an executive in the LDP’s coalition partner Komeito party said there was “no reason to [pass the IR bill] before the elections. This bill is frozen until the autumn extraordinary Diet session.”
This delay throws spanners in the works of allowing casinos in major cities like Tokyo and Osaka before the 2020 Summer Olympic Games.
