Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (pictured), leader of Japan’s governing Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), and Natsuo Yamaguchi, the head of Komeito, its coalition partner, restated at a meeting in Tokyo on Tuesday a commitment to pass the Integrated Resorts (IR) Implementation Bill in the current, extended, session of parliament, it has emerged. The bill is necessary for the setting up of a legalised casino sector in that country.
The same day, another piece of draft legislation, referred to as the Basic Bill on Gambling Addiction Countermeasures, was presented to, and discussed by, a committee of the Japanese parliament’s upper chamber, the House of Councillors, according to information gathered by GGRAsia.
It is possible that an anti-addiction bill could be enacted by Friday this week. It will act as a framework to which detailed regulation can be added later. It had been widely reported in Japan that the passage of the measure was a precondition for lawmakers to give their assent to the IR Implementation Bill.
The IR Implementation Bill is likely to be discussed at a plenary session of the upper house on Friday, according to GGRAsia’s correspondent in Japan. After that, the bill is likely to go to the Committee on Cabinet – a body dealing with matters presented by the country’s Cabinet Office – in the upper house.
The governing parties are thought likely to present a resolution on the IR Implementation Bill on July 19, with a view to passing it in the upper chamber before the end of the extended parliamentary session.
The House of Representatives, the lower chamber of Japan’s parliament, passed on June 19 the IR Implementation Bill.
Japan’s governing coalition agreed on June 20 to extend the current, ordinary, session of the country’s parliament until July 22, to allow time for that bill, and several other items of government business, to be enacted fully.
