In the US, Mississippi regulators have renewed the gaming licence of Universal Entertainment chairman Kazuo Okada.
Commission voted to approve the “suitability” of Okada and Universal’s US gaming device subsidiary Aruze Gaming America, but only on the condition that an FBI probe into Universal’s activities in the Philippines fails to turn up any wrong doings.
The hearing came one day after the Japan-based Universal announced that the Philippine National Bureau of Investigation had “concluded” its investigation into Okada’s activities in their country.
Universal’s local subsidiary, which is building an integrated resort in Manila’s Entertainment City, However, the renewal came with some conditions. The Mississippi Gaming stood accused of funneling $40m to gaming regulators to obtain land concessions and other favours related to the casino project. Universal has denied allegations of bribery and claimed that the bulk of these payments were made by now ex-employees acting without authorisation.
Okada himself appeared at the MGC hearing, making his first public appearance in the US since the problems began several years ago. Okada told the MGC he wasn’t the “bad guy” portrayed in reports by the Reuters news agency and Japan’s Asahi Shimbun newspaper. Universal has sued these media outlets for “biased and unfair reporting.”
MGC member Wally Carter told Okada that the decision to renew the licences had been made following the MGC’s own investigation, not on press reports. However, MGC executive director Allen Godfrey told Reuters that the allegations were “very concerning to me, but until there is something I can hang my hat on I can’t act.”
