GGRAsia – 70pct IR users domestic, annual GGR US$1.4bln: Nagasaki

70pct IR users domestic, annual GGR US$1.4bln: Nagasaki

Sep 23, 2021 Newsdesk Japan, Latest News, Top of the deck

Nagasaki prefecture expects seven out of every 10 visitors to its hoped-for casino resort will be from within Japan, and that the facility will generate annual gross gaming revenue (GGR) of JPY150 billion (US$1.37 billion), according to a statement made to the prefectural assembly on Tuesday.

The details are based on the winning proposal (pictured rear centre, in an artist’s rendering) for a casino property in Sasebo within the prefecture, made by Casinos Austria International Japan Inc.

Complexes with tourism and leisure facilities as well as a casino are known in Japan as integrated resorts (IRs). Up to three will be permitted in that nation, under the liberalisation programme for casino gambling. Local governments must find a private-sector partner, and then apply to the national government for the right to host an IR.

Nagasaki – one of at least three areas interested to host one – anticipates, based on the information it has freshly made public, that its IR would open “at the earliest” in 2027, and attract annually 8.4 million visitors: 6 million of them domestic customers and 2.4 million from overseas.

That is according to statements by the prefecture made at the local-government assembly and collated by GGRAsia’s Japan correspondent.

The authority said 15 percent, i.e., JPY22.5 billion, of the forecast JPY150 billion annual GGR, would go to the prefecture.

Japan’s IR Implementation Bill, approved in July 2018, clarified several key points regarding the country’s nascent industry, including a 30 percent tax on casino gross gaming revenue – to be shared equally between the national government and the local government host – and an entry levy of JPY6,000 for Japanese citizens and residents wishing to enter such venues.

Nagasaki’s newly-disclosed information also suggested the IR would hire approximately 10,000 people, although it was not clear if that included jobs during the development phase.

In other news concerning Nagasaki’s IR tilt, the prefecture held on Wednesday the first meeting of its panel of experts to establish what it calls a “IR district development plan”.

The panel – which includes representation from Casinos Austria International Japan – is said to have people with knowledge respectively of topics encompassing tourism, transport, and gambling addictn.

The prefecture will consult with, and get opinion from, the panel, in order to establish the IR district development plan.

The prefecture is scheduled to present that plan to the Nagasaki prefectural assembly in November.

Nagasaki has said it expects to make its submission for a resort to the national government by spring 2022.

Last week, the prefectural assembly was told that the “economic ripple” effect from the Casinos Austria International Japan’s proposed Nagasaki IR was likely to be JPY320 billion, or about US$2.9 billion. That was the lowest end of the JPY320-billion to JPY420-billion benefit mentioned by the prefecture when it announced its basic integrated resort concept in April last year.