Hong Kong-listed investment holding firm Oshidori International Holdings Ltd says it has “dedicated a considerable amount of resources and time” in preparing a bid in its pursuit of a casino resort licence in Japan’s Nagasaki prefecture. The company said it was confident regarding its prospects, according to a Thursday press release.
The company said in its statement that its bid would “be unique” to Nagasaki prefecture and Sasebo city. It would also “highlight the rich culture and diversity of the area and the surrounding region,” the firm added.
Nagasaki prefecture would like to put such a casino resort on a circa 31-hectare (76.6-acre) site at the Huis Ten Bosch theme park in Sasebo city (pictured).
Oshidori International announced on Tuesday that it had appointed Alejandro Yemenidjian as a non-executive chairman and non-executive director of the company. Mr Yemenidjian is also to serve as chief executive of Oshidori International Development Ltd, the group’s unit responsible for arranging the bid for a Japan integrated resort (IR), as large-scale casino complexes with associated tourism facilities are known in that country.
Thursday’s statement quoted Margaret Wong, an executive director of Oshidori International, as saying that the group was “excited to have Mr Yemenidjian on-board.”
“He has a breadth of experience and unparalleled expertise within the gaming and integrated resorts sector, which is of particular relevance to our current project agenda,” she added. “I am confident that our company will benefit from Mr Yemenidjian’s valuable insights and global perspective as we continue to focus on executing our IR programme that we are confident will [be] unmatched anywhere in the world.”
Oshidori International is among three companies that had already publicly confirmed their participation in Nagasaki’s request-for-concept (RFC) phase regarding a tilt at a casino resort.
Local governments wishing to host an integrated resort will need first to choose a private-sector partner and then apply to the central authorities for the right to have a licence. A maximum of three resorts will be permitted in a first phase of liberalisation.
The Nagasaki authorities are holding detailed explanatory meetings on the prefecture’s IR implementation policies with potential candidates until June 19. They are yet to launch the request-for-proposal phase, which was originally scheduled for a spring time frame.
