Japanese government gearing up for gambling

Last year’s surprise approval by Japanese lawmakers of legislation permitting the introduction of land casino gambling across the nation (see previous reports) has been followed by the launch of a Cabinet office branch tasked with the implementation of the decision by the Diet (parliament).

Addressing the ASEAN Gaming Summit in Malta this week, PwC Japan executive Masahiro Terada said that drafting on the implementation bill was 90 percent complete, and that its submission to the Diet was imminent.

Terada said that the fledging industry expects the implementation will allow “two to three integrated casino resorts in key Japanese cities”.

Major global land casino operators are hungrily eying the new market with massive investments planned; Las Vegas Sands and MGM Resorts are talking about $10 billion or more each in investments, anticipating that the Japanese market will be among the biggest in South East Asia.

Aside from a large and relatively well-off population, the advent of integrated casino resorts is also expected to boost incoming tourism revenues, currently estimated to reach around $80 billion by 2020 from $34 billion last year.

Related and similar