Study says Japan IRs will open after 2026
After policy delays, Global Market Advisors said that Japan’s IRs won’t be ready in time to open before 2026, as the government originally wanted.
Japan.- The Japanese casino industry will eventually go live as there’s an interest from both the government and the private sector. However, after the policy for the segment got delayed, potential dates for its launch seem to have been postponed as well.
According to a new research brief released by Global Market Advisors (GMA), the 2025 target is far from reality. The establishment of Japan’s Casino Management Commission will be complete before 2020, but not on July 1 as officials planned. That would trigger “the process to move forward with the regulations and the RFP process” and “only delaying the process by a few months as opposed to a full year.”
“Even under the most aggressive timeline, it would have been a challenge to get an IR open on Yumeshima by 2025, should they be awarded one of the three coveted licenses,” GMA said. “This is because of the challenges that would face any structure of this magnitude being built anywhere in Japan, let alone a man-made island that may have its own challenges in construction.”
“The timeline could advance to a faster IR opening should the operator/prefecture partnership take the risk upon themselves to advance an IR opening earlier than 2026,” the brief stated. “If there is not a process in place by 2Q20, it is unlikely that a full integrated resort would be open in time to meet the desires of Osaka for the World Expo in 2025, or anyone else that will be investing billions of dollars into an integrated resort.”
The delays
The casino industry was waiting for the basic policy for the development of integrated resorts (IRs) and will continue waiting. The government announced plans to postpone said regulations until the election in summer for the House of Councillors, the upper chamber of parliament, or later.
According to a senior government official quoted by Jiji Press, they will show the basic policy “next year.”
The authorities planned to introduce the Japanese casino policy this summer but decided to postpone them. The campaign and the elections are the main reasons and will have the industry waiting a few more months.
