Casino operators scramble for Japan’s Gaming License

Several international casino operators are scrambling for the first casino license in Osaka, the prefecture where the first of three integrated resort licenses will be issued in Japan.

Melco Resorts and MGM Resorts have sponsored activities in Osaka.

Melco sponsored a fireworks show during Osaka’s annual summer July festival. MGM brought the Blue Man Group to perform in the festival, in addition to hosting a boat party.

Among the other suitors of Osaka are Las Vegas Sands, Caesars Entertainment, Wynn Resorts, Galaxy Entertainment, and Genting Group.

They are doing everything in their power to get in the good graces of Osaka officials. According to prefecture records, executives from 11 casino companies have met with Osaka Governor Ichiro Matsui a whopping 119 times since May 2017. The government doesn’t specify names or companies in the records.

Ho has also made multiple donations to Osaka. Melco’s most recent was a roughly $450,000 contribution to a fund for victims impacted by a June earthquake. Heading up Melco’s office in Japan is Ako Shiraogawa, and he insists the payments aren’t meant to give the casino company an upper hand in the forthcoming bidding.

“It looks like we are doing too much,” Shiraogawa said of his boss Ho meeting with Matsui the day before the fireworks sponsorship. “But it just happened to be the same day as the festival.”

Osaka will look to receive the largest investment to maximise the IR’s potential. Sands and MGM have both pledged as much as $10 billion in developing a casino resort in Japan, while Ho said he “prefers not to constrain our dreams with price tags.”

Morgan Stanley projects a casino in Osaka could generate $4 billion a year in gross gambling revenue.

Source: casino.org