Osaka prefecture/city has decided not to include a specific timeline in the upcoming implementation policy to be published regarding its IR and casino.
According to the Nikkei, this is in consideration of operators who have been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. The former expectation of a partial opening in the latter half of the 2020s with a full opening in 2027 to 2028, has now been left completely up in the air.
A partnership between US casino giant MGM Resorts International and Japan’s ORIX is participating in Osaka’s open operator recruitment and it was decided it would take time for business to recover in the current COVID-19 climate. If the exhibition and accommodation facilities meet the criteria of central government, a gradual opening will be permitted.
The prefecture/city expects a partial opening to start in the second half of the 2020s and is making adjustments to include that in the implementation policy.
The implementation policy draft was announced in November 2019 in hope of a full opening before the 2025 World Expo. The desire was to attract more visitors as the Expo site is adjacent to the IR site on Yumeshima Island. However, operators voiced concerns about the short construction period and in the recruitment criteria revealed in December 2019, it stated that partial opening with a full scale opening in 2026 would be permitted.
Later, due to the continued worldwide pandemic, the operator stated that they had not been able to proceed with preparatory work and in March 2020, a partial opening before the Expo was abandoned. Later in June, a deadline for submitting proposals from operators was postponed and Governor Hirofumi Yoshimura indicated that a full reopening was now expected to be postponed to 2027 or 2028.
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