Inside Asian Gaming

IAG FEB 2020年2月 亞博匯 17 CHIBA BECOMES LATEST LOCATION TO WITHDRAW FROM JAPAN IR RACE 千葉棄逐日本IR THE mayor of Japan’s Chiba city, Toshihito Kumagai, has announced that Chiba will not bid for an IR. Just over a month after Hokkaido withdrew from the nation’s IR race, Mayor Kumagai revealed a similar stance, stating, “We have been conducting surveys while considering the trends of the country, but due to circumstances, including last year’s typhoon, we have decided that the current schedule would not allow enough time for coordination with stakeholders, such as the prefecture, and for us to complete those procedures required by law.” Kumagai added that the application period announced by the national government in November – from 4 January 2021 to 30 July 2021 – was shorter than expected and Chiba did not expect it could prepare in time. Chiba city has been conducting a request for information (RFI) from private businesses on the feasibility of an IR since July in order to gather the information necessary to determine whether to bid. In October, eight domestic and overseas operators submitted business concept proposals to the city. 日本 千葉市市長熊谷俊人宣佈，千葉將放棄 競逐引入IR。 就在北海道宣佈退出角逐日本IR一個 月之後，千葉市市長也做出同樣的決定。他 稱：「我們一直在根據國家的趨勢進行調查， 但由於大環境、尤其是去年的颱風，我們認 為目前沒有足夠的時間與包括縣府在內的 利益相關者進行協調，而且也沒有足夠的時 間完成既定的法律程序。」 熊谷俊人補充稱，日本政府在11月公佈 的申請期，即2021年1月4日至2021年7月30 日，比預期的時間短，千葉認為無法及時準 備。 千葉自去年7月以來，一直在向私企就 競標IR的可行性進行「資料索取（RFI）以必 要信息決定是否競標。去年10月，共有8家國 內外運營商向該市提交了綜合度假村提案。