Yokohama wants to host an integrated resort

The Mayor of Yokohama has announced that the city intends to host an integrated resort, specifically at Yamashita Wharf.

Japan.- Yokohama Mayor Fumiko Hayashi hosted a news conference on Thursday where she announced that the city wants to host a casino resort. The government wants to boost the tourism sector and considers a casino resort as a vehicle to do so.

Hayashi said that they have to look into Yokohama’s future, “the 20 to 30 years ahead”. The Mayor added that they’re getting ready to prepare an official bid. “I’ve come to the conclusion that in order to achieve growth and development, we need integrated resorts (IRs) in Yokohama.”

The Mayor highlighted Yamashita Wharf as the location for the casino resort. They believe that the location being adjacent to popular sightseeing spot Yamashita Park is a good option to open an IR by the mid-2020s, Japan Times reported.

Japan IRs to generate €8 billion to €10 billion in revenues

Bernstein Research said combined annual revenues for the first IRs are likely to be between €8 billion and €10 billion.

With that range estimated by Bernstein, gross gaming revenue (GGR) would eventually be between €6.2 billion to €7.1 billion annually. However, “if only one metropolitan area is selected with two regional IRs, the revenue would be lower,” said the brokerage.

Analysts Vitaly Umansky, Eunice Lee and Kelsey Zhu also talked about non-gaming revenue. “Non-gaming revenue – which in Macau represents less than 10% of gross revenues and in Singapore 25% – would be a higher percentage in Japan and could be in the €1.7 billion to €2.6 billion range. Thus, total gross revenues for two metropolitan-city IRs and one regional IR could reach €8 billion and €10 billion.”