Japanese legislators plan to present a bill to legalise casinos as early as this year as companies including Wynn Resorts look to invest billions of dollars in what could be the world’s second biggest gaming market.
Hiroyuki Hosoda, the chairman of a cross-party group of lawmakers promoting casino development in Japan, said that the group aims to submit a casino bill to the next parliamentary session. It aims to pass the bill next year.
Wynn Resorts has said it will consider investing more than $4bn in Japan casino resorts, while MGM Resorts International president Bill Hornbuckle said it would spend “several” billion dollars. International casino companies have begun studying expansion opportunities in the country as Tokyo’s selection to host the 2020 Olympics Games boosts confidence that the law legalising gambling resorts will pass.
“Japan could benefit from both its proximity to China and their appetite for VIP and mass-market gaming and luxury shopping and being a business centre with huge convention possibilities,” said Tim Craighead, a Bloomberg Industries analyst. “All of it now relies on the legislation process and Japan pursuing the benefit of the integrated resort concept.”
Casinos are currently banned in Japan and Union Gaming Group estimates the country could turn into the world’s second largest gambling hub with $10bn in revenue a year if it opens up.
“A lot of Japanese gamble at casinos overseas, so the ban doesn’t make sense any more,” Hosoda said. “It just means tax revenues go elsewhere.” It could take five years for the first casino to be operational after the law is passed, he said.
