GGRAsia – Nagasaki sets top end of IR spend guideline at US$5.1bln

Nagasaki sets top end of IR spend guideline at US$5.1bln

Sep 30, 2019 Newsdesk Japan, Latest News, Top of the deck

Nagasaki prefecture has set the upper end of its guideline for capital cost of a casino resort on its patch at JPY550 billion (US$5.1 billion), according to information collated by GGRAsia’s Japan correspondent. The lower-end guidance was set at JPY320 billion.

At a meeting on Thursday, the prefecture also confirmed October 1 as the start date for a request-for-concept phase inviting submissions from private-sector firms interested in partnering with the local authorities on such a venture.

Earlier this year, a senior executive of Japanese company Current Corp told GGRAsia it expected a Nagasaki integrated resort – or “IR” as such projects are known in Japan – would be likely to cost about JPY550 billion.

According to our correspondent, the investment guidelines announced on Thursday amounted to a revision of the prefecture’s IR basic concept plan, on the basis that in April 2018, Nagasaki had mentioned a guideline figure of JPY200 billion.

The higher figures announced on Thursday were the result of consultation with the private sector.

The Japan unit of global gaming operator Casinos Austria International recently told GGRAsia it was in the process of forming a consortium for a potential casino resort at Sasebo (pictured) in Nagasaki prefecture.

In June, Asian casino investor NagaCorp Ltd told GGRAsia that land at the Huis Ten Bosch amusement park in Sasebo, part of Nagasaki prefecture, was one of the options it is looking at for development of a Japanese gaming resort.

In June, the governors of Nagasaki and the other six prefectures on the southwestern island of Kyushu jointly declared themselves in favour of a casino resort in Nagasaki.

In April, the operator of the Huis Ten Bosch theme park in Sasebo and the governments of Sasebo and Nagasaki prefecture struck a deal to have land at the theme park reserved to enable construction of a casino resort there.

To begin with, a maximum of three places in Japan will be allowed to have casino resorts.

Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has endorsed the legalisation of such resorts as a stimulus for inbound tourism. Those local governments qualified to apply to the national government for permission to host an IR – namely prefectures and ordinance-level cities – need to team with private-sector partners prior making their bid to the national government.