After the application process for integrated casino resorts has been delayed for quite some time because of the coronavirus pandemic and other issues, the Government of Japan is finally proceeding with its plans to expand the country’s gambling sector. On October 1st, the Japanese Diet officially opened the window for cities and prefectures to file their applications to host one of the three integrated casino resorts that are planned to be established in the country.
Applicants will have until April 28th, 2022 to make their submissions for the casino operating permits.
So, as of the beginning of the month, the country’s Government launched the submission period for the project for so-called integrated casino resorts to be presented. The prefectures and cities that are interested in hosting one of the three casinos that are to be allowed by the country’s authorities will have more than half a year to deliver their final projects. After this, the Government will take some time to consider the submissions before making a final decision.
As the authorities had originally announced, there will be three integrated casino resort permits and there are only three local governments that are currently interested in getting such a license – Nagasaki, Osaka and Wakayama. According to experts, in theory, it is possible that the Japanese Government chooses only one or two of the candidates or even none of them.
All IR Casino License Applications to Be Considered on a Point Scale in 5 Categories
Once the interested cities and prefectures file their applications, the Government will judge them based on a points scale of up to 1,000 points. The authorities unveiled both the structure and the criteria of the evaluation process in December 2020, saying they will rate the integrated casino resort projects on five categories.
The category that is worth the most points – 450 – involves the contribution that the integrated casino resort is to bring to the Japanese tourism sector. Then, the ability of the property to operate a safe and transparent business could bring up to 200 points, while both the implementation of measures to prevent gambling harm and the economic and social impacts of the project are both rated with up to 150 points. Finally, the use of casino revenue for improvements of national and local communities is worth up to 50 points.
As already reported by CasinoGamesPro, the integrated casino resort plans of the Japanese Government have faced some hurdles on the way. In addition to the global coronavirus pandemic, lawmakers had to deal with a huge bribery scandal involving the Chinese gambling company 500.com and some local politicians engaged in the integrated casino resort projects application process.
All of this, plus a number of other factors, have eventually resulted in reduced interest in the casino gambling expansion although the local Governments were very much into it at first. The most recent withdrawal was the one of Yokohama, which backed out after a new mayor took over several weeks ago.
