Inside Asian Gaming

IAG FEB 2020年2月 亞博匯 48 JAPAN is currently under house arrest for bribery. Rusutsu Village’s IR bid prospects disappeared when Hokkaido narrowed down the candidate location for the prefecture to Tomakomai City, and 500.com withdrew from Japan in September 2019. As of January 2020, the investigation is ongoing and everyone except for Shimoji has denied directly receiving funds from 500.com . So what affect may this series of events have on the future IR development? There is no avoiding the fact that this has damaged the impression of IRs in Japan and further reduced the confidence of the public. It is an unwanted headwind to those involved in trying to make Japan’s IR industry a reality, including the government and local municipalities. Ichiro Matsui, Mayor of Osaka city, indicated, “It is the local municipalities making bids who have the authority to select IR operators, not the Senior Vice Minister.” Matsui went on to criticize the legislator, saying, “He was leading the operators on, telling them he had certain authority that he didn’t even have. It’s like those phone scams where people call up pretending to be relatives. I wonder where he thought he would get by mixing policy with his personal scam? I wish the media wouldn’t be so quick to be biased and negative against IRs.” One major operator told IAG , “What did the company with no experience or know-how in running IRs plan to do by giving money to someone with absolutely no authority [in deciding IR operators]? “It’s unfathomable to us. However, we are happy to bleed out the poison.” Brendan D. Bussmann, Partner and Director of government affairs for Global Market Advisors, told IAG , “It is unfortunate that you have one company that has minimal if any shot of landing an IR license casting such a shadow on an industry that has good operators that want a strong regulatory environment to operate, similar to those in Singapore and Nevada. “What will be telling is how far the pendulum potentially swings to negate the actions of a few as to not over-regulate an industry that would turn away quality operators from investing tens of billions in Japan, its people, and driving tourism. “Now that the Regulatory Commission is in place, it 區）、船橋利實(自民黨/比例北海道）及中村裕之（自民黨/北海道 4區）。這五人與秋元司一樣，同屬跨黨派IR推進聯盟。除了岩屋毅 外，所有人都立足於沖繩或北海道。 據報道，500.com有意在沖繩及北海道推動潛在的IR發展，該 中企其後接觸了在當地積極推動IR發展的議員。 同年12月，包括秋元司在內的三位日本議員拜訪深圳，相關 旅費獲500.com支儀，該市也是500.com總部所在地。 2018年1月，加森觀光集團的留壽都度假村宣佈有意在北海 道留壽都村發展競投IR項目，500.com曾投資於留壽都村。同年2 月，秋元司及其家人到訪留壽都村，當中的76萬日圓費用相信由 500.com支付。 加森觀光集團亦被指控曾支付該旅程的部分費用，其董事長 加森公人正因涉嫌行賄罪名而被拘捕及軟禁在家中。當北海道宣 佈潛在IR項目選址為苫小牧市時，留壽都村的IR夢亦告幻滅，500. com亦於2019年9月撤出日本市場。截至2020年1月，相關調查仍 在進行中，除了下地幹郎外，所有人都否認曾直接收受500.com的 款項。 所以，這一連串事件對日本的IR發展前景有甚麼影響？無可 否認的是這樁醜聞令日本IR形象受損，也打擊了公眾信心。對那 些致力落實發展日本IR行業的持份者，包括日本政府及地方政權 而言，這都是不必要的負面因素。 大阪市長松井一郎表示，「地方政府才有權力挑選合適的IR 營運者及參與競投，而不是副大臣。」 他進一步批評秋元司時指出：「他誤導那些營運商，令這些企 業認為他有某程度的權力，但他並沒有相關權限。這情況猶如電 話詐騙案，犯人打給他人冒充其親戚。我在想他從哪裏得到啟發， 認為可將政策與個人詐騙混在一起？我希望媒體不要這麼快產生 偏見及對IR留下負面印象。」 一間主要營運商接受《亞博匯》訪問時稱：「一家沒有營運任 何IR項目的經驗及專業知識的公司，向一位絕對沒有權力（決定IR 競投）的人士送禮，究竟是怎樣的一回事？」 「我們不明白這件事為何發生，但很高興地可以藉此清除壞 份子。」