GEN Singapore affirms interest in Yokohama casino bid

Apr 16, 2020 Newsdesk Japan, Latest News, Singapore, Top of the deck  

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Genting Singapore Ltd, operator of the Resorts World Sentosa casino resort in Singapore, said in its annual report filed on Wednesday that it continued to be “engaged in the ongoing request for concept (RFC) by Yokohama city,” regarding moves by that Japanese city to get a casino resort with a private-sector partner.

Genting Singapore added the firm would focus its “efforts and resources in delivering a compelling proposal which will make Yokohama a must-visit tourism destination with particular prominence” for meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions (MICE) business and for leisure.

The Yokohama authorities confirmed on Wednesday that they were putting back by two months, to August, the publication date for the city’s basic policy on an integrated resort or “IR” as such casino complexes are known in Japan; and pushing back to the same time the opening date for the city’s request-for-proposal phase for prospective commercial partners.

A maximum of three casino resorts will be permitted in Japan under a first phase of market liberalisation. Any local government wishing to have one will need to find a private-sector partner then apply to the national government for permission.

Genting Singapore noted in its 2019 annual report that on February 4 an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders had “near-unanimously” voted in favour of an investment “not exceeding US$10 billion” regarding “development, operation and/or ownership of an IR in Japan”.

Since then, in common with casino operators around the region and across the globe, Genting Singapore has seen the suspension of casino operations in its home market.

Singapore’s casino duopoly has paused gaming for a period of four weeks until May 4, as part of measures by the city-state’s government to control the Covid-19 infection associated with the novel coronavirus pandemic.

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