GGRAsia – Nagasaki confirms IR design changes, says budget stays

Nagasaki confirms IR design changes, says budget stays

Dec 07, 2021 Newsdesk Japan, Latest News, Top of the deck

Nagasaki prefecture in Japan has confirmed to GGRAsia there have been some changes to the previously-announced design regarding its hoped-for casino resort. Such schemes are known in Japan as integrated resorts or “IRs”.

“We changed to an architectural design using curved surfaces in order to enhance the symbolism,” said an official of the prefecture’s Integrated Resort Promotion Division, in response to GGRAsia’s enquiry.

But the official added there was “no change in project cost”. That was previously mentioned at JPY350 billion (US$3.09 billion).

It was reported locally that the revised design had been submitted to Nagasaki’s prefectural assembly on Monday.

Last Friday, a member of the prefectural assembly expressed concerns about whether Casinos Austria International Japan Inc, Nagasaki’s chosen private-sector partner for an IR, would be able to find the project finance and form an effective consortium for such a large-scale scheme.

The project is to be in Sasebo city (pictured), part of Nagasaki prefecture, and within Sasebo’s Huis Ten Bosch theme park.

The Japanese national government opened on October 1 the application period for local authorities to pitch as host for a casino resort, and announced the weighting it will give when scoring such requests. The closing date for applications is April 28, 2022.