The Japanese city of Osaka hassaid it’s close to coming up with an implementation policy that would allow itto select the developer of the future integrated resort project, hotels, shops,conference rooms and casinos. The Committee consists of seven membersconsidered specialists in the gaming industry.
7-member Panel Is Choosing the Company to Develop the Large-Scale Casino
Japanese lawmakers are close to issuing the first of three licenses for Japanese casino resorts. Yet to apply for the licenses, local authorities first need to find private companies ready to develop the resorts. That has to happen until 2021 when the government plans to launch the official procedure for obtaining a permit.
Only one prefecture will be shortlisted to build the first Integrated Resort (IR), and Osaka has just made the next step towards securing developing rights.
The local government made astatement that the casino resort’s future operator will be selected by aseven-member body consisting of financial auditors from big companies, expertson gambling problems, and some of Osaka’s government officials among others.
So far it has beenannounced that University Public Corporation Osaka’s chief director YoshikiNishizawa is going to be the chairman of the seven-member panel whileHiroshi Mizobata, head of Convention and Tourism Bureau in Osaka, wasappointed as the vice-chairman of the committee.
The news about theestablishment of the selection panel was announced amid the preparations of theprefecture to start a request-for-proposal (RFP) process for ope 7BALL CX ratorswho want to take part in the local bid for the rights to develop the project.
Osaka’s local authorities stated that by the middle of 2019 seven big operators had been competing for winning the right to develop Osaka’s casino resort to be built on the artificial island of Yumeshima in the Japanese prefecture on an area of 121 acres (49 hectares).
Yet, last month the localgovernment admitted that only three of the competitors would remain until theend of the procedure. The companies in question are Galaxy Entertainment,MGM Resorts International and its partner ORIX Corporation, Group, aswell as Genting Singapore.
A Long Way to Go Before Winning the Casino Licenses
It is important to note that the casino project became possible after a two-stage process of legalizing gambling in Japan. The first step was made in 2016 when the Japanese central government also called Diet passed a law authorizing casino gambling.
After that, in July 2018, lawmakersvoted the so-called IR Implementation Bill, a law that officialized a big partof the regulations the current Japanese casino industry has to be following.However, the regulatory process has not been finished yet and changes are stillto be made.
But even though the basicpolicy on integrated resorts has not been officially implemented by theJapanese government, local authorities in Osaka, and other prefectures, arestarting the RFP process later this month.
It is expected the name ofthe winning operator to be revealed in June 2020, which ahead of the 2021 licenseapplication process.
