Japan stipulates that casino resorts must have big hotels

Japan’s lawmakers are finalising the formalities about the country’s new Integrated Resorts (IR) policy. The government has published new standards to set for casino resorts to be built by the mid-2020s. One of the requirements is that the casinos must have hotels and conference rooms bigger than those that already existing in the country. The proposals await cabinet approval.

These standards make it clear that Japan is trying to compete with other regional rivals, such as Macau and South Korea, as large-scale requirements—such as hotels with more than 100.k square meters for guest rooms—would need big investments from local governments and operators.

If the average size of a guest room in Japan is 50 square meters, a hotel would need 2,000 rooms, exceeding by at least 500 rooms the largest hotels in the country, Mainichi revealed. Other requirements establish that exhibition halls would have at least 120k square meters, surpassing Tokyo Big Site, currently the largest conference space in Japan with 95k square meters.