Inside Asian Gaming

IAG JAN 2020年1月 亞博匯 32 COVER STORY in crisis … I’ve come to the conclusion that in order to achieve growth and development, we need an integrated resort.” The city claims the economic ripple effect of a Yokohama IR could be up to JPY 1 trillion (US$9.2 billion) annually. It identified Yamashita Wharf on Yokohama’s waterfront as a suitable location. With Tokyo itself not officially in the race, Yokohama is seen as a more than acceptable surrogate by the world’s largest IR companies. Part of the Greater Tokyo metropolis consisting of nearly 40 million people, and under an hour by train from Tokyo station, Yokohama immediately stole Osaka’s thunder when it announced itself “on the market.” Las Vegas Sands, infamous for honing in on the largest population center of any country it seeks to operate Yamashita Wharf has been put forward as the candidate site for an integrated resort in Yokohama. 山下碼頭已被選定為橫濱IR的落腳地。 in, started touting “Tokyo-Yokohama” as its preferred location, dropping any interest it had in Osaka. It was not alone. Wynn announced a “Yokohama focus,” and Melco a “Yokohama first” strategy, with both companies opening offices in Yokohama around two kilometers from the proposed IR site in the last two months. The city has wasted no time, passing a supplementary budget for IR related expenses in September, launching its RFC process in October and closing proposals in December. City officials have said they plan to finalize their implementation policy and start the selection process for an operator in 2020, and that they hope to select their operator by 2021. In November, Yokohama announced it had received seven registrations for the RFC process. While the names of the registered parties were not released, the identities