Inside Asian Gaming

IAG JUL 2021年7月 亞博匯 25 封面故事 was eventually acquired by HIS, a Japanese travel agency, in 2010. HIS then injected US$20 million to develop the property. For more on the HTB site, please refer to another article in this issue of IAG , by my colleague Shintaro Kamimura. Last month HIS announced HTB suffered a loss of US$2 million for the year ended 31 March 2021, in a year that saw domestic and international tourism ravaged by the global pandemic. Nagasaki has heralded the IR project as a chance to reinvigorate not only HTB, but Sasebo, Nagasaki and the entire island of Kyushu at the western end of the country. The Kyushu Governor’s Association (KGA) has long endorsed the project, which means the Nagasaki IR enjoys support from the entire region – the KGA comprises the governors of all seven Kyushu prefectures plus the governors of Okinawa (to the south of Kyushu) and Yamaguchi (just east of Kyushu), as well as the Chairmen of the Kyushu Economic Federation, the Federation of Kyushu Chambers of Commerce and Industry, the Committee of Kyushu Keizai Doyukai and the Kyushu Employer’s Association. The launch of theKyushu IRPromotionCouncil on 12 April 2021, with Yutaka Aso as chairman, further signalled the region’s support. Part of an esteemed family counting Japanese royalty and politicians in its ranks, Aso’s elder brother Taro Aso has been Japan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance since 2012 and was Prime Minister of Japan from September 2008 to September 2009. Samuel Yin Shao Yang, Associate Director of Maybank Kim Eng Investment Bank, recently estimated the Nagasaki IR would see annual gross gaming revenue (GGR) of around US$1.5 billion annually. This should equate to an annual bottom line in the hundreds of millions of US dollars. So, which of the final three candidate operators is likely to win this glittering prize? Let’s start by meeting the trio. 綜合度假村亦受到整個地方的支持。這是由於九州地方知事會 是由九州裏9個縣的知事，以及沖繩(九州南邊)、山口縣(九州東 鄰)的知事所組成，另外還有九州經濟連合會、九州商工會議所 連合會、九州經濟同友會的委員會，和九州僱主協會的一眾會 長加入。 在2021年4月12日啟動、以麻生泰為會長的九州IR推進協 議會，更是點出了該地區的支持力度。麻生的家世顯赫，家族中 就有日本的皇室成員及多名政治人物。他的哥哥麻生太郎亦自 2012年起擔任日本的副首相及財務大臣，並且曾在2008年9月 至2009年9月期間出任日本首相。 馬來亞銀行助理總監Samuel Yin Shao Yang最近就估計， 長崎綜合度假村將可能每年錄得博彩總收入15億美元。這數字 應該能夠與每年數億美元的損益線看齊。 那麼，到底最後3個候選營運商中，那個最有機會贏得這個 輝煌的獎品呢？讓我們看看這3個參賽者。 Nagasaki has consistently and vigorously promoted itself as a candidate IR site for years, while arguably more attractive locations across the length and breadth of the Japanese archipelago have come and gone. 即使一些在日本群島上於各方面都可能 更吸引的地方在這期間曾經冒出，但長 崎多年來都一直持續及大力地把自己標 榜成綜合度假村選址之一。