The Japan Casino Regulatory Commission has had its allocated annual budget increased by 2.2 percent year-on-year. The budget for financial-year 2024 is JPY3.70 billion (US$26.0 million), up JPY80.0 million on the JPY3.62 billion that had been announced for financial-year 2023.
The allocation for the coming financial year was announced on Friday. Expressed in U.S. dollar terms at current exchange rates, the budget is actually down slightly on financial-year 2023.
Beginning in the current financial year, the commission has been in implementation mode in terms of casino-related licensing and other casino regulations, according to information collated by GGRAsia’s Japan correspondent.
The country’s first casino resort will be MGM Osaka, a venture between United States-based MGM Resorts International, Japan’s Orix Corp, and smaller investors.
In early September, the authorities in the Japanese metropolis Osaka had mentioned “autumn 2030” at the earliest before a resort there could open. They added at the time that the initial investment cost of JPY1.08 trillion would rise by JPY190 billion.
A proposal by the metropolis of Nagasaki to develop an integrated resort (IR) with casino is still awaiting a response from the national government.
The Japan Casino Regulatory Commission’s 2024 financial year budget includes: JPY2.85 billion for personnel and operational costs; JPY360 million to establish a supervisory setup for casino operators and other covered parties; and JPY220 million to conduct examinations of casino operators and others in order to check their suitability for licensing.
The number of commission staff mentioned under the financial-year 2024 budget is 167, an increase of three year-on-year.
The cited annual budget excludes an amount listed by Japan’s Digital Agency – a government body set up to aid the “digitalisation” of Japan’s economy, government and society – to be paid by the Japan Casino Regulatory Commission toward such work. For financial-year 2024, that amounts to JPY540 million, compared to financial-year 2023’s JPY910 million.
