GGRAsia – Five groups qualify for next phase of Nagasaki casino tilt

Five groups qualify for next phase of Nagasaki casino tilt

Mar 02, 2021 Newsdesk Japan, Latest News, Top of the deck

Five commercial groups that previously answered Nagasaki’s request-for-proposal (RFP) seeking a private-sector partner for that Japanese prefecture’s tilt at a casino resort, have all been deemed qualified for the next phase of the process, a local official has confirmed to GGRAsia.

Casino complexes are known in Japan as integrated resorts (IRs). The national government has said any such venues – up to three will be permitted initially in that country – should have tourism attractions, hotels, and space for meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions (MICE), as well as a casino.

Nagasaki’s integrated resort promotion division confirmed to GGRAsia that the qualified five groups in its effort were, respectively: a consortium involving Oshidori International Holdings Ltd; Casinos Austria International Japan; Current Group; the Niki Chau Fwu (Parkview) Group; and One Kyushu, a consortium involving Tokyo-listed Pixel Companyz Inc and French gaming operator Groupe Partouche SA, according to corporate information available respectively from those two entities. That consortium is represented by a company called TTL Resorts Ltd.

Nagasaki’s prefectural government is due to complete this month a “first round” of evaluation on would-be partners, designed to narrow to three the field of contenders. A second round would feature what the prefecture called “competitive dialogue” with would-be partners; an “integrity review” on them; and an examination of their respective final proposals for a project. That is according to guidance to GGRAsia, from Nagasaki’s integrated resort promotion division.

August is earmarked by Nagasaki for project presentations by the contenders. That would be followed by the actual selection of a partner, in order for the prefecture to make a submission to the national government for permission to have an IR.

The local IR promotion office declined to discuss respective investment costs mentioned by the contenders. This was in order to “ensure the fairness and integrity of the bidding process”, its official said.

Oshidori International has confirmed to GGRAsia that it intends an investment input of “JPY400 billion (US$3.75 billion) to JPY500 billion” for a Nagasaki casino resort project. The company has also teamed with United States-based tribal casino operator Mohegan Gaming and Entertainment for the Nagasaki effort, the two groups announced in a joint statement in late January.