Eight Japan places interested to host a casino: minister
Eight places in Japan are definitely considering seeking national government permission to host casino resorts, according to comments by Kazuyoshi Akaba, Japan’s Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, at a Tuesday press conference.
The eight places were: Hokkaido, Chiba city, Tokyo, Yokohama city, Nagoya city, Osaka, Wakayama, and Nagasaki. So said the minister, citing the results of a survey by the Japan Tourism Agency, according to information collated by GGRAsia’s Japan correspondent.
The survey was carried out between September 9 and 19. Jiji Press news agency reported that the tourism body would conduct follow-up interviews with officials from the eight areas identified, in order to assess the progress of their planning.
A separate survey by Jiji Press indicated that the cities of Kawasaki, and of Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture, were also considering seeking permission to host a casino resort.
The central government plans to permit casino construction at up to three locations. Suitor places must first select private-sector partners before making their pitch to the national government.
Fitch Ratings Inc said in a report last week that Japan’s requirement that any casino operating licences issued in that country be subject to a renewal process every 10 years is the “biggest obstacle to securing bank financing” for schemes that are expected to cost many billions of U.S. dollars each.
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