Japan to establish casino regulatory body

The government announced that an oversight body for the upcoming segment will be launched on July 1, 2019.

Japan.- The casino industry has almost landed in Japan after necessary legislation was passed over the last few weeks. That’s why the government now needs to set up an oversight body for the segment, which will be launched July 1st, 2019, officials announced.

The body has been referred to as the casino administration committee and will be tasked with casino regulation (licensing, probity, background checks) but not everyday control. It will initially have 95 staff and will work as an external bureau of the Cabinet Office, sources told GGRAsia. It will take €46.1 million to be established, but it’s yet to be clarified if its going to be a one time expense or a yearly running cost.

Japan is close to getting the industry running in the country but still has to choose which cities will be designated as integrated resorts hosts. Earlier in August, Japan’s Office of Integrated Resort Regime Promotion held briefings for officials of interested governments and explained the IR Implementation Act, procedures to develop gaming venues and how local authorities could go about getting to the request for proposal stage.