Inside Asian Gaming

INSIDE ASIAN GAMING FEB 2019 32 2018 2019 2020 • Establish Casino Administration Commission • Draft/anouncement of basic policies by Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism • Draft/announcement of implementation policies by prefectures • IR Development Act established and announced • Public selection of IR Operators • IR plan creation by prefectures • Regional development plan certification application • Certification/disclosure of regional development plan by Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism • Signing of implementation agreements • Casino license applications • Strict license screening T he Japanese vision for IRs has had to walk a long road. July 2018 saw the establishment of the IR Implementation Act and marked the real starting line in the race to win a Japanese IR license. Precisely 20 years ago, in 1999, Shintaro Ishihara, the governor of Tokyo at the time, showed great enthusiasm for IRs saying, “Building a casino in Tokyo will come with great economic benefits.” In 2001, he raised the idea of an Odaiba casino. In 2002, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party built on this by establishing the “Alliance for Considering Casinos and International Tourism”, but it has been a rocky road since then with casino development having repeatedly been put on the backburner. In 2009 the Liberal Democratic Party was voted out and the debate was interrupted again by the tragic Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011. The IR Promotion Bill, first proposed in 2013, was temporarily scrapped when the House of Representatives was disbanded. But now it’s full steam ahead and this time there is no turning back. After many twists and turns, the IR Promotion Act was established in December 2016 and while it took even longer than expected, the IR Implementation Act was finally established on 20 July 2018. THE GOVERNMENT HOLDS THE BALL The turn of the new year has seen candidate cities for IR development step up their preparations to find a partner and bid for an IR license. The recent decision to award Osaka the 2025 World Expo has given the city a massive boost in the IR promotion race. Each of the international IR operators interested in developing a casino resort in Osaka has in turn organized courtesy visits with Governor Ichiro Matsui. JAPAN