Despite efforts in recent weeks by Japan's lawmakers to put forward a viable gaming bill, legalising casinos is a long way down the agenda for a country still recovering from the enormous earthquake that struck earlier this year.
Proposals have been put forward for the legalisation of several integrated resort casinos, similar to those opened recently in Singapore and Macau. However, as the country’s politicians continue to tackle mounting economic problems and support communities devastated by the earthquake and subsequent tsunami, such projects are unlikely to get the go-ahead this year.
The election in August of new Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda - the country’s sixth in five years - is also expected to delay the process as he gets to grips with a whole host of other major issues.
"The issues this administration must deal with for the foreseeable future are the responses to two crises,” he said during his first cabinet address. “The first is the recovery and reconstruction from the Great East Japan Earthquake and bringing the nuclear power station accident to a conclusion.”
One source told InterGaming that the push for casino gaming has now been “lost in the shuffle”.
“There is just too much going on after the tsunami for anyone to prioritise this,” they said. “Don’t expect it to re-emerge until next year, but in the long-term, everyone thinks it is inevitable.”
In December last year, research revealed that a majority of Japanese citizens, many of whom had visited casinos abroad, were in favour of legalising them locally. It is understood that the major political parties are also broadly in favour of passing new gambling regulations.
