The Osaka Prefecture’s Governor has just recently announced that he alongside other officials will begin the official process which will ultimately help to determine the casino operator for the proposed city’s integrated resort. As revealed, the process of casino operator selection is all set to start from the next month. According to an Inside Asian Gaming report, the news came from one Hirofumi Yoshimura, after the list of potential operators for the city’s casinos was reduced to just three names.
These include Genting Malaysia Berhad, MGM Resorts International, and Galaxy Entertainment Group Limited. The forty-four-year-old Osaka Prefecture’s governor has also shared some more details including that the city’s officials hope to have decided on an operator winning the race by the end of the spring. He also said that the city’s officials also hope to have all of the mandatory implementation policies and other crucial details all set up before his office submits its ultimate proposal to the city’s government panel.
Osaka to Become Home to a $10 Billion-Worth Casino Resort
The city of Osaka is definitely eager to be given all of the required permissions by the government to finally bring a long-anticipated, $10 billion-worth fully integrated casino resorts which will be complete with retail outlets, loads of exhibition facilities, hotels and of course, a casino floor and much more located on a massive, 121-acre property on Yumeshima Island.
Even though the majority of gambling activities are considered illegal in Japan, the recent coalition of the country’s government led by its Prime Minister Mr. Abe passed the most recent gambling legislation back in July of 2018. Thanks to this landmark decision, the nation is offered a trio of gambling licenses. To be selected as one host for one of the three coming facilities referred to as integrated casino resorts, every interested community is being required to strike a business deal with a foreign, experienced casino operator before they can submit their plans to the country’s federal selectors.
Before only three runners remained in the race, seven companies had expressed interested in constructing and managing an integrated casino resort in the city of Osaka which is currently home to almost twenty million residents. The city is also facing some tough competition for one of the trio of casino licenses from other interested communities including Chiba, Nagoya, Yokohama, and Sasebo. As the city prepares for the process of selecting one operator for its integrated casino resort, the country’s government has revealed all of its Casino Management Board’s nominees.
Casino Management Board Nominees Revealed by the Japanese Government
The government of the Japanese Prime Minister Mr. Abe has just recently revealed all of the names of the five individuals his office would like to see as the country’s Casino Management Board’s members. The Casino Management Board will serve as the Japanese official gaming regulator which will be responsible for the entire casino market which includes formulating a series of measures that will aim at countering serious gambling accordions.
The country’s new gaming regulator will operate fully independently at the Cabinet Office and it will have some assistance from around one hundred civil servants. It will conduct an assortment of associated security, probity, and background checks. When it comes to the nominated individuals, they will probably remain at their positions for up to five years. The Casino Management Board’s nominees include Michio Kitamura who used to work at the Ministry of Defense as the Legal Compliance Inspector General. The remaining nominees include Tateshi Higuchi, Noriko Endo, Michiko Watari, and Hiroyuki Ujikane.
