MGM Resorts Unveils $ 9 Billion Casino Plan in Japan
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International has officially proposed to build a $ 9 billion casino resort in Osaka, revitalizing the impetus to open Japan’s first casino gambling facility after a pandemic-related delay.
Global casino operators have been looking for opportunities since Japan legalized casinos in 2018, but the process went slowly and some companies withdrew their bids.
Osaka, the core of Japan’s second most populous region after the Tokyo area, has been most active in promoting casino plans. The city offers an artificial patch “Yumeshima” in Osaka Bay as a casino-centered resort.
Hirofumi Yoshimura, the governor of Osaka Prefecture, said on Wednesday that Osaka had received proposals from MGM and Japanese financial services company ORIX. Co., Ltd.
It will spend 1 trillion yen (equivalent to about 9 billion dollars) to build a casino resort. They are the only ones working on such a project in Osaka.
Osaka Prefecture has not officially approved the consortium’s plans, but Mr. Yoshimura welcomed the proposal. “After the pandemic, we would like to invite the world’s best integrated resort to Yumeshima, where many people from home and abroad can come and enjoy Osaka,” said Yoshimura.
If all goes well, it will be selected as one of the three casino bases nationwide by April 2022. If Osaka is chosen, the land will be handed over to businesses around 2023, and the resort will open in the latter half of the 2020s.
Orix said the shares of MGM and the consortium were equal, but did not reveal what that share was. Mr Yoshimura said he expects local businesses to participate in the project.
At the Bernstein Investor Conference in June, MGM CEO Bill Hornbuckle said the company met with Osaka leaders to reduce some elements of the resort, such as conferences and convention spaces. He said the change would “focus us on the core business of the game” and improve project revenue.
Opinion polls show that the majority of Japanese are against casino gambling. Proponents of the idea tend to call facilities integrated resorts and casinos are just a few of them.
Other companies have ended their pursuit of casinos in Japan after a delay in the licensing process.Las Vegas Sands Co., Ltd.
Said that it was once led by the late Sheldon Adelson, but withdrew its proposal to Yokohama in southern Tokyo in May 2020 because of concerns about a license for just 10 years. The company said the decision had nothing to do with the pandemic. Sands has long-term licenses for casinos in Macau and Singapore.
Governor Yoshimura said he was confident that Osaka, a popular destination for Asian tourists before the Covid-19 pandemic, would recover as soon as the infection was mitigated. MGM and Orix “decided to invest because they think so,” he said.
Write to Megumi Fujikawa (megumi.fujikawa@wsj.com) and Catherine Sayre (katherine.sayre@wsj.com)
MGM Resorts Unveils $ 9 Billion Casino Plan in Japan
