Hokkaido No Closer to Final IR Bid Decision

The Hokkaido Liberal Democratic Party has discussed the topic of IRs in its annual conference held last week. Nevertheless, there was no clear consensus reached during the meeting with Governor Naomichi Suzuki maintaining his stance that a decision would be made before the end of the year and at the appropriate time.

The standoff follows the results of a recent survey of Hokkaido residents which found that although many have high expectations for an IR bid, there are also a lot of concerns, primarily around problem gambling. Governor Suzuki has indicated that he will consider the results of the survey.