The prefectural authorities in Japan’s northernmost main island Hokkaido (pictured) may earmark JPY9.98 million (US$65,138) for research and a review on having an integrated resort (IR) with casino. That is according to the prefecture’s fiscal-year 2026 draft budget.
According to the draft budget made public on February 13, the sum would be for revising “the basic stance on IR of Hokkaido prefecture”, per information reviewed by GGRAsia’s Japan correspondent.
Last month, Naomichi Suzuki, Hokkaido’s governor, had invited Japan’s central authorities to mull why the first round of IR applications, which concluded in December 2023, had produced only one successful applicant, Osaka city and prefecture. The JPY1.51-trillion MGM Osaka, is due to open at the end of 2030.
But even before the proposed timetable for the second round – namely May to November 2027 – was announced in December, Mr Suzuki said Hokkaido would press ahead in considering an IR policy.
And in the second week of February, Suguru Kanazawa, mayor of Tomakomai – A Hokkaido port city seen as a frontrunner for IR-candidate status – said it “will not miss the opportunity” to pursue the matter.
Last month Governor Suzuki said the prefecture was working on “establishing the basic stance on IR… and ‘The Hokkaido-Style IR Concept’”, and would be exchanging opinions with municipalities and related companies and organisations.
The ‘basic stance on IR’ would be the foundations for the Hokkaido governor to decide if the prefecture would eventually go ahead with submitting an IR district development plan as required under Japan’s casino legislation.
Hokkaido had expressed interest prior to Japan’s first round of IR applications, but in the end dropped out of contention in late 2019, before the first round began.
