Inside Asian Gaming

IAG JAN 2022年1月 亞博匯 37 封面故事 by the national government – Wakayama, Nagasaki and Osaka. WARY WAKAYAMA? In June 2021 Clairvest was “selected” as the operator partner of Wakayama for its bid – selected from a list of one that is, as all other previously interested parties had withdrawn from the process. A basic agreement between Wakayama and Clairvest was signed in August 2021. Also involved in the Clairvest consortium is AMSE Resorts, connected to casino executive William Weidner, and Mario Ho of the famous Ho casino family in Macau. Clairvest has announced Caesars as their operator partner, but Caesars has not committed to any of the JPY 470 billion (US$4.3 billion) claimed capital investment. Neither Wakayama prefecture nor Clairvest have disclosed any further details on consortium members, project partners or funding. Clairvest’s entiremarket capitalization is under US$1 billion, less than a quarter of the project’s investment capital. There have been political concerns expressed at the Wakayama Prefectural Assembly, particularly relating to the 退出，Clairvest「被選中」成為和歌山 的營運商合作夥伴。和歌山與Clairvest 在2021年8月簽署了一項基本協議。 參與Clairvest財團的還有AMSE Resorts，該公司與賭場高管William Weidner及澳門何家成員、電競企業家 何猷君有關聯。Clairvest已宣佈凱撒為 其營運商合作夥伴，但凱撒就表示未承 諾任何有關4700億日元（43億美元）的 資本投資。和歌山縣和Clairvest都沒有 透露有關財團成員、項目合作夥伴或資 金的任何進一步細節。Clairvest的總市 值不到10億美元，不及該項目投資資本 的四分之一。 和歌山縣議會上也表達出一些政 治上的擔憂，特別是關於這樣一個大型 項目的融資細節的缺乏，已經不諱言的 質疑有至少一位縣議會成員「過度參與 了」IR的開發。 11月，由於Clairvest被認定為提供 信息「不夠充分」，和歌山宣佈退出原 定的具名簡報會。 更糟糕的是，一個和歌山居民團體 收集了20,833個簽名，要求就IR投標 進行公投，稱「雖然此事與公民息息相 關，但民眾確沒有機會投票。」請願書 的簽名人數是舉行公投所需的最少簽名 人數的三倍多，預計將於2022年1月提 交至市議會。 2021年5月，和歌山縣知事仁坂吉 lack of detail around financing such a large project and not- so-cryptically questioning if at least one Prefectural Assembly member is “too involved” in IR development. In November, Wakayama Prefecture announced the postponement of scheduled resident briefing and public feedback sessions due to informationsuppliedbyClairvest being deemed “insufficient.” Worse still, a Wakayama resident group has collected 20,833 signatures calling for a referendum on the IR bid, saying “there was no opportunity for citizens to vote, despite the 伸表示，若該縣認為Clairvest不太可能 獲得國家首肯，則該縣可能會選擇不參 與日本的IR遴選過程。 不確定的長崎？ 2021年8月6日，長崎選擇Casinos Austria International Japan (CAIJ) 作 為其首選合作夥伴，僅僅24天後，雙方 就匆忙簽署了基本協議。據悉開發成本 為3500億日元（32億美元），計劃每年 吸引840萬遊客。有鑒於日本歷史上入 境旅遊的規模和長崎「太遠」的聲譽， 這個數字似乎不可能實現。 長崎的運營商選擇過程尤其痛 苦。競爭對手Oshidori International