Japan Delays Legalization of Land Based Casinos

Though the hope was that Japan’s leading party would legalize land based casinos in 2014, it appears that plans have changed and the current date for this to happen is set for 2015.

The ruling party of Japan at the moment is LDP (Liberal Democratic Party), while the law that they were supposed to pass is called Integrated Resorts (IR). Throughout 2014, there was a strong belief that this law was going to be passed before the end of the year, but in the end it was shelved and now it is expected to be debated on in 2015 at the earliest. The reason for this delay is the lack of time for proper deliberation on the bill, with the end of the parliamentary session being less than two weeks away, on November 30.

Another potential explanation for the delay of this law might be the resignation of two ministers in October, one of them from Justice and the other from Economy, Trade and Industry Department. In each case, the resignations had penal implications as a motive, with the Economy Minister being accused that she misappropriated campaign funds, while the Justice Minister stepped down because of accusations of election law violations.

There is strong support from the casino industry for this law, as evidenced by the multiple operators that are waiting for the law to pass, in order to start investments in local casinos and resorts. The hope of many is that the IR bill will be passed at least in early 2015, allowing them to have their casinos ready by the time the Tokyo Summer Olympics will take place here in 2020.

One of these casino operators is MGM Resorts, with an announcement of their plans being made back in September. According to Bill Hornbuckle, the president of MGM Resorts, their plan is to create MGM Osaka once the law is passed and they want to make sure it’s a Japanese inspired product and not just another Las Vegas resort. The local Osaka government seems to be interested in creating an area just for gaming activities, in Yumeshima.

Melco Crown Entertainment is another company that has similar plans in Japan, while Sheldon Adelson mentioned that he would be willing to spend up to $10 billion in order to enter this new market.

Wondering why the interest is so big? Studies released on the topic mention a potential of up to 13 million casino visitors per year and spending of up to $18 billion a year on their part, and that’s for the Osaka region alone. At the same time, MGM believes it can bring in international visitors to this resort, up to 5 million of them by 2025.

The chances are good right now that this bill will be passed, so those wishing for Japanese land based casinos to be made a reality should remain optimistic. The current PM of Japan, Shinzo Abe, is one of those pushing for the IR bill to be passed quickly, saying that the growth of Japan requires the presence of these integrated casino resorts.