Petition problems for Wakayama Prefecture casino proposition
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A petition in support of a campaign to bring an integrated casino resort to Wakayama Prefecture, Japan, has collected over 20,000 signatures. The petition asks the government to hold a plebiscite to ask the local population if they agree with the proposition of bringing a large Las Vegas-style facility to the community of 352,00 people.
The mayor of Wakayama, Masahiro Obana, accepted the petition on Friday. He is required to call a full council meeting by January 26 to conduct a vote on whether to hold a public referendum on a gambling-friendly development on the 50.7-acre plot of Marina City land.
The referendum request could be damaging to the plan to bring an integrated casino resort to Wakayama Prefecture. The collected signatures equate to roughly 6.5% of the Honshu city’s entire voting population.
Wakayama Prefecture is home to about 945,000 people. Clairvest Neem Ventures Company Limited is the preferred operating partner for its campaign to secure one of three inaugural integrated casino resort licenses offered by the government of Japan. Caesars Entertainment Incorporated is helping to put together a definitive bid. The bid will need to be submitted to a panel of federal selectors in advance of an April 28 deadline.
Residents are frustrated by the lack of transparency concerning the project. Public briefings were postponed last November. Neither Clairvest Neem Ventures Company Limited nor Caesars Entertainment Incorporated were ready to provide specific details around a number of capital and funding issues.
