The Osaka prefectural government in Japan published on Friday an updated version of its development plan for an integrated resort (IR) with casino. The project’s total investment is now expected to reach JPY1.51 trillion (US$10.24 billion currently), up from a previous estimate of JPY1.27 trillion disclosed in May this year.
Global casino operator MGM Resorts International and Japan’s Orix Corp are the two main partners in the consortium developing the MGM Osaka project (pictured in a rendering). The endeavour also involves a number of other Japanese businesses as minority investors.
The revised document said construction costs – due to an increase in the price of construction materials and labour – are now expected to reach nearly JPY1.04 trillion, up from a previous forecast of about JPY722 billion.
The plan published on Friday by the prefectural authorities confirmed that MGM Resorts’ equity commitment for MGM Osaka has increased to JPY428 billion, up from a prior JPY306-billion pledge. The casino firm now controls a 44-percent stake in the project, up from 41 percent previously.
Orix has also seen its stake increase to 44 percent from 41 percent, corresponding to its revised JPY428-billion commitment to the IR project, showed the document.
The floor area of the property’s gaming venue open to the public is now expected to stand at 23,293 square metres (250,724 sq. feet), from 23,115 sq. metres previously.
MGM Osaka is expected to feature 1,829 hotel rooms and 10 villas, according to the latest plan.
A ground-breaking ceremony for MGM Osaka – Japan’s first casino resort – was held in April this year. Construction of the complex is expected to be completed in the summer of 2030, with the opening scheduled for around autumn of that same year.
The casino complex is being developed at Yumeshima, an artificial island in Osaka Bay.
In late April, Jonathan Halkyard, MGM Resorts’ chief financial officer, had flagged the higher equity commitment for MGM Osaka. He said the consortium had available a “JPY530-billion credit facility” for the Osaka project, and that the bank facility would “kick in … in 2028 and carry the funding through to the opening in 2030”.
Earlier this month, Sarah Rogers, senior vice president of corporate finance at MGM Resorts, said the casino group would invest “about US$300 million” this year in the construction of MGM Osaka, and “around US$500 million to US$600 million” in the following years.
“We have the financing in place for Japan and, as of the last quarter, it is JPY380 billion, and spot at the time had us at US$2.6 billion,” stated Ms Rogers.
