Inside Asian Gaming

IAG JAN 2022年1月 亞博匯 44 COVER STORY complete lack of subway access and a soil pollution problem at the Yumeshima site. So much for Japan IRs opening before the 2020 Olympics! WHERE TO FROM HERE? The national government’s deadline for submission of development plans from the three prefectures is 28 April 2022. The national government then has the right to select up to three locations. It can even reject them all should it choose to do so. There is currently no official guidance regarding how long the national government will take to make these decisions. Most commentators agree that MGM’s proposal for Osaka should be selected. However, if either of the other two locations are selected, the Japanese government will be making a grave mistake. Given the inexperience in major IR development of the selected operators, the scale of the developments for such small regional locations and the problematic processes so far, either of these regional sites will end up as enormous white elephants. Can Japan pull itself out of the hole it has dug for itself in its IR development process? Yes, but it will require a major rethink. The Japan government 2029 年開放，但鑑於日本多次推遲開放 的記錄，即使我們在三十年代才看到其 開業也無需驚訝。建築方面也存在很多 問題，包括缺乏地鐵交通，及夢島現場 的土地污染問題。 在2025年大阪世博會之前開業日本 IR面臨重重挑戰！ 何去何從？ 日本中央政府為三個都道府縣設置 的提交發展計劃的截止日期是2022年4 月28日。當然政府有權選擇最多三個地 點。如果其願意，甚至可以拒絕所有這 些提案。目前尚未有日本中央政府需要 多久才能做出這些決定的官方指南。 多數評論人士都同意應該選擇美 高梅的大阪提案。但是如果選擇的是另 外兩個地點的任意一個，日本政府將犯 下嚴重錯誤。鑑於被選中的運營商在主 要IR開發方面缺乏經驗，如此小的區域 位置內的開發規模及迄今存在的流程問 題，這些地點中的任何一個都有可能成 為一個大白象工程。 日本能否在IR發展過程中從給自己 should use COVID as an excuse and go back to the drawing board, learning from the mistakes made thus far and re-writing the rules to make Japanese IRs a more attractive economic proposition to the international IR community. The fact that just one major IR company is currently in the running, and even then, in a much less enthusiastic manner than previously, should be a massive red flag to Japan. The question is, has Japan’s leadership got the ability to be introspective, acknowledge the errors made, and completely rework its IR development offering? I very much doubt it. 挖的坑裡走出來？可以。但需要重大反 思。日本政府應該以新冠疫情為藉口， 重新回到原地、從迄今為止所犯的錯誤 中吸取教訓，重新制定規則、令日本IR 成為對國際IR業界更具吸引力的經濟主 張。只有一家大型IR公司對此感興趣， 而且即便如此也沒有以前熱情了，這對 日本來說應該是一個巨大的危險信號 。 但問題是，日本的領導層是否有能 力進行反省、承認所犯的錯誤並完全重 新設計其綜合度假村的規劃？ 我對此持 懷疑態度。