Japan expected to announce the location of its first casino resort in 2023

The Osaka proposal is backed by a consortium between MGM Resorts International and ORIX Corp., while Casinos Austria International is working on the Nagasaki proposal.

The governor of Osaka prefecture has said that “at this moment” a proposed Osaka integrated resort (IR) with casino would still be able to open “between autumn and winter of financial year 2029,” and the date had “not been affected by the prolonged examination” by the national government of the metropolis’ IR District Development Plan.

Hirofumi Yoshimura was speaking on Friday, the day after Kyodo News had reported that a national government official had said it might be “quite difficult” to make a determination this calendar year, on the IR plan either of Osaka (pictured), or that of Nagasaki prefecture, which has also submitted a casino resort proposal.

Financial-year 2029 runs from April 1, 2029 and ends on March 31, 2030, according to GGRAsia’s Japan correspondent.

Kyodo News had further reported on Thursday – without citing a source for the further information – that a delay beyond calendar year-end 2022 on approval of either conurbation’s IR plan, could put back such resorts’ mooted opening dates: 2029 for Osaka, and 2027 for Nagasaki.

Osaka’s city mayor had flagged last month that the national authorities had asked for more information concerning the proposed site at Yumeshima, an artificial island in Osaka Bay.

Yoshimura’s Friday commentary acknowledged: “Now the only issue the government has been looking into is the land issues. To which, we submitted all the things asked by them.” He added: “We want the national government to give approval to us as quickly as it can.”

MGM Resorts International, part of the proposed private-sector partnership for a JPY1.08-billion (US$7.90 billion at current exchange rates) casino resort, had previously mentioned the possibility of a decision on the Osaka IR by this autumn.

Several Osaka MPs have recently pressed senior national government figures to expedite the approval of Osaka’s IR plan.

Local-government representatives in Nagasaki have repeatedly pressed the authorities there to give more information on the funding for what has been touted as a JPY438.3-billion project.

Despite the slow development track for casinos in Japan after the legalization bill was passed in 2018, analysts are still watching the gaming pursuit in Japan with as many as three integrated resorts eventually expected to be approved. The timing for the resorts could be attractive amid the uncertainty in Macau with local rules on casino diversification and the COVID recovery only inching along.