Kawasaki to join Japan’s IR race

The municipal government has made public its decision to consider a bid to develop an IR once the industry gets regulated.

Japan.- After the integrated resorts implementation bill was approved in the Japanese Legislature, the casino industry is closer than ever to finally arriving in the archipelago. However, there are still several topics to address before outlining the details of its development, including locations, which now include Kawasaki among the candidates.

The central government recently conducted a survey among prefectures to find out which were interested in developing an IR. Kawasaki was not among the sure bets and came out as a surprise when it revealed a bid was “under consideration”.

“All we mean by ‘under consideration’ is that we are not excluding the possibility of hosting an IR from the outset. At this point we have not made any concrete investigations,” said Kawasaki Mayor Norihiko Fukuda to tone down the reaction to their comments on a potential interest in developing a casino resort.

“IRs can be effective in creating energy in local areas. With our municipal finances in a tough situation, we must think about every means for recovery,” he further stated.