Not so good neighbour policy

Three sites are reportedly lobbying hard to get one of the first licenses to operate an Integrated Resort in Japan, the Japan Times reported on Sunday.
Two sites are located in Osaka Prefecture, Yumeshima, an artificial island in Osaka Bay, and Riku Town in Izumisano, while another site, the Wakayama Marina City in Wakayama Prefecture, is located just south of Osaka.
Yumeshima has already attracted interest from casino operators with business in Macau. These include Melco Resorts & Entertainment, which was said to have showed preference for Osaka over Tokyo, MGM Resorts International, and Las Vegas Sands Corp.
Lobbying from Wakayama – which is not on the nine-cities list nationwide holding public hearings by a panel of experts appointed by the Diet to discuss detailed regulations of the Integrated Resorts Promotion Bill – was reported to have ‘irritated’ officials in Osaka city and Izumisano, who worry that Tokyo would not award two licenses for cities located in the same vicinity.
Business and political interests in Osaka city and Prefecture were also said to have put forward a plan with hotels, convention and shopping centres, as well as cultural facilities as part of their lobbying strategy.
Supporters of Rinku Town have also advocated that the site’s location across the bay from Kansai airport in southern Osaka makes it ideal for attracting tourists to the area.
Osaka city, the prefecture, and local businesses have been promoting the development of Osaka as a possible casino site since 2002.
In 2013, the city of Izumisano, where Rinku Town is situated, approved a resolution to support casino development, forming an attendant committee the following year.
During the public hearing held in Osaka earlier this month, official information claimed that a survey conducted by the city in 2013 showed that 68 per cent of residents supported lifting the ban on casino gambling.

Focus on regional economics
Wakayama is also touting the city’s proximity to Kansai airport – some 45 minutes away by car – claiming it can attract enough of its 6 million visitors to generate profits. In support, local officials have further claimed, in contrast to Yumeshima, that the construction of facilities in Wakayama Marina City could start immediately, according to the Japan Times.
Wakayama’s position is that the upper house of Japan’s parliament, the Diet, needs to approach legislation on awarding casino licenses from the perspective of ‘regional economics,’ instead of focusing only on reviving the local economy.
The Diet is expected to approve only two or three IR’s in the first stage.
Suggestions collected during the public hearing, to be held from August 17 to 29, are likely to be considered during the writing of the bill, which is expected to be finalized by the end of 2017.