Kyushu IR Council early-2021 launch
The Kyushu IR Council is to be set up in either January or February, says Hodo Nakamura, the governor of Nagasaki prefecture, which is a potential contender to host a Japanese casino resort.
Such a council aims at connecting an operator for any Nagasaki integrated resort (IR) – as such facilities are known in Japan – with local small and medium-sized enterprises in the Kyushu region, which encompasses Nagasaki.
The idea is that the casino resort would get goods and services from those community-based firms, and so boost the local economy, according to information collated by GGRAsia’s Japan correspondent.
Mr Nakamura made the comments about the likely date for setting up the IR Council at a Tuesday plenary session of the prefectural assembly.
Yutaka Aso, the chairman of the Kyushu Economic Federation, will head the council.
A piece of land at the Huis Ten Bosch theme park located in Sasebo (pictured), within the Nagasaki prefecture, has been earmarked for an IR, should Japan’s central government approve one for Nagasaki.
In October, Japan’s national government said it planned to start accepting proposals for casino resorts from October 2021. The proposed closing date for such submissions – to be made by local governments – would be April 28, 2022. That is a delay of at least nine months in the process to introduce casino resorts in Japan, a decision the national government attributed to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic in the country.
A total of three casino resorts will be permitted nationally in a first phase of liberalisation. The policy has been presented as a form of stimulus for regional economies, in terms of drawing in tourists from overseas.
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