Japanese survey shows desire for govt to review casino plans

A new survey shows that 70% of the people interviewed want the local government to review the plans to build casinos in Japan.

Japan.- Kyodo News released on Sunday a new survey that indicates that a majority of people in Japan wants the government to review plans to build casinos in the country. The government is expected to decide on three locations to host casinos later this year.

Around 70.6% of the people that participated in the survey expressed their desire to review the plans to open integrated resorts (IRs) in Japan. Approximately 21.2% said that the plans are okay and that they don’t need a review.

The survey comes just a few weeks after a former member of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party was arrested after being suspected of receiving bribes from a gambling operator from China. The former member, Tsukasa Akimoto, was one of the politicians pushing for casino resorts in Japan.

The government is expected to choose three cities that will host casino resorts around the end of the first half of the year or early in the second half. It will take into consideration the plans that operators created along with local cities.

Japanese IR legislation faces major opposition

As reported last week, most opposition parties in the country have come to an agreement to block the casino segment. Lawmakers will jointly submit legislation to reverse the 2016 Japanese IR Promotion Act.

Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan executive Jun Azumi explained their push and called for a referendum. “I would like to put the question to the Japanese people whether or not we should have casinos.”

Despite the ongoing investigation over lawmakers receiving bribes from a casino operator, regulation continues to move forward. That’s why the government has set up the Japan casino commission, which will assess the IR licencing process.