Inside Asian Gaming

IAG JAN 2023年1月 亞博匯 112 the future”, the issue at hand was whether or not Japan could ever reach a political consensus on casino gaming. As we wrote, “Casino advocates in Japan have been waiting 10 years for a law to bring resort-scale gambling to the world’s third-largest economy,” ever since a 2002 study found that a casino with a hotel and other attractions capable of attracting 2.25 million people a year would generate US$642.6 million and employ 4,000 people. But any prospects of turning potential into reality had been made particularly difficult given the political turmoil Japan had endured in the decade since then. Eight prime ministers had come and gone, making passing such significant legislation nigh on impossible, despite annual predictions that a casino bill was about to be introduced to parliament. As we now know, it took until 2016 for Japan to pass its IR Promotion Bill and another two years to pass the accompanying IR Implementation Act. Yet, more than four years later, what promised to become one of the world’s largest IR markets is teetering on the precipice with only Osaka and Nagasaki in the running to develop Japan’s first IRs. And while Macau was quick to complete its re-tender of gaming concessions this year, Japan’s central government is yet to make any announcement on the bids submitted by Osaka and Nagasaki back in April, with no sign of when such an announcement may finally come. “Nemawashi” anyone? 一如我們現在所知，日本直到2016 年才通過其《IR促進法案》，又過了兩 年通過了《IR推廣法案》。然而就在四 年後，這個曾經有望成為全球最大IR市 場之一的國家卻已支離破碎，只有大阪 和長崎還在爭相發展日本第一批IR。 此外，儘管澳門今年迅速完成了博 彩經營許可的批給，但日本中央政府尚 未就大阪和長崎在4月提交的投標文件發 表任何聲明，也沒有跡象表明相關公告 最終會在何時發佈。 是「根回」了嗎？ 10 YEARS AGO