Inside Asian Gaming

IAG FEB 2021年2月 亞博匯 74 JAPAN always had an interest in IRs … we need to continue to partner with companies that can complement in areas where we lack. Now that we have announced our entry in themarket, we can plan further expansion and accelerate our relationship-building.” Groupe Partouche were formerly partnered with Oshidori, but this relationship was terminated in May 2020 prior to the arrival of Yemenidjian. Strangely, Partouche only issued a press release announcing the fact some three months later, in August 2020. Partouche operates 42 club-style casinos (mostly in France but also in Belgium, Switzerland and Tunisia) in addition to hotels, restaurants, spas and golf courses. The company employs just under 4,000 people. WHERE TO NOW? Under the current timeline (explained in Part 1 of this article), any unannounced locations (Tokyo and Aichi are the two most talked about) would need to move very quickly indeed to jump into the race. If that doesn’t transpire, we’re left with two metropolitan locations, Osaka and Yokohama, and two regional, Wakayama and Nagasaki. Osaka has only one bidder left, MGM, and while that company has been amongst the most enthusiastic candidates over the years, their change of Chairman, the prevailing pandemic and the solo bidder dynamic will likely hinder that process. Yokohama is hampered by the upcoming mayoral election and lack of clarity on what happens if an anti-IR candidate wins. Wakayama has only two candidates, Suncity and Clairvest, and the latter has been conspicuous by their silence. This leaves Nagasaki as potentially the only interesting race, but 裁吉田弘明在11月接受《亞博匯》專訪時稱：「我們一直對IR充滿 興趣……我們需要繼續和那些可以與我們所缺乏的領域、從而互 補的公司合作。現在我們已經宣佈入場，接下來就可以計劃進一 步擴張並加速我們的關係建設……」Groupe Partouche此前曾 一度與威華達合作，但這種合作在2020年5月宣告終止，彼時Ye- menidjian尚未走馬上任。奇怪的是，Partouche在這件事發生的 3個月後，即2020年8月方便公佈了這一消息。除了酒店、餐廳、水 療中心和高爾夫球場之外，Partouche還營運著42傢俱樂部風格 的娛樂場（大部分在法國，但在比利時、瑞士及突尼斯亦有分佈）， 而該公司的僱員不足4000人。 去向何方？ 按照目前的時間表（在本文的第一部分中已有闡述），那些尚 未宣佈決定的地點（東京和愛知縣最受關注）必須非常迅速地行 動才能加入賽道。若他們未能入局，最終將只剩下兩個大都市區， 即大阪和橫濱，以及兩個地方地點，即和歌山和長崎。 Bloomberry Resorts has expressed interest in Japan, and at one stage were linked to Wakayama, but they have been very quiet of late. Bloomberry Resorts已經表達了對日本 感興趣，並一度鐘情和歌山。但近期該企很 安靜。