GGRAsia – Aichi still undecided regarding casino pursuit

Aichi still undecided regarding casino pursuit

Oct 05, 2020 Newsdesk Japan, Latest News, Top of the deck

Japan’s Aichi prefecture is still mulling over the possibility of hosting of a casino resort scheme, said the prefectural authorities in a recent plenary meeting of the Aichi prefectural council. The authorities said an aggregate of 13 entities had participated in the prefecture’s request-for-information (RFI) process aimed at private-sector firms, including four casino operators and nine domestic companies.

The prefectural authorities in Aichi said they were still considering whether the prefecture would apply to Japan’s central government for the possibility of hosting of a casino resort scheme, or integrated resort (IR), as large-scale casino complexes are known in Japan.

The Covid-19 pandemic has disrupted the decision-making process of some of the IR operators that had shown interest in pursuing an IR project in the prefecture, said the local government. The next steps would depend on the development of the health crisis and would be based on the communication with the private-sector entities, said the authorities according to information collated by GGRAsia’s Japan correspondent.

A maximum of three casino resorts will be allowed in Japan in a first phase of liberalisation, and cities or prefectures qualified to have one will need to make a bid to the national government once they have chosen commercial partners for such schemes.

The potential site for an Aichi IR scheme would be on reclaimed land associated with the Central Japan International Airport – a facility also known as Chubu Centrair International Airport, Nagoya – which is owned by Aichi prefecture.

In February, Aichi prefecture had announced the extending of the deadline of its RFI process from the end of March to the end of May. Such extension was due to the delay in the announcement of the national government’s IR basic policy.

Japan’s national government has not yet decided the timeframe for the release of its IR basic policy, local media reported citing government comments made at a regular cabinet meeting on October 2. Such basic policy will also set the period for the national government to accept proposals for the development of integrated resorts in the country.