Feature: Japan IR
Japan IR Timeline Update By Joji Kokuryo, Bay City Ventures, Managing Director
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he land of the rising sun has definitely been taking its time when it comes to implementation of integrated resorts (IR). The long and arduous procedure has reached the very important stage in which local municipal governments select their IR operators through a public tender. The three of the four candidate locations, Osaka, Yokohama and Nagasaki are expected to select their respective IR operating partner between June and October. The fourth candidate site, Wakayama, decided to move forward with the Clairvest consortium in early June. The Japanese government currently requires local prefecture and/or city governments to first select their own IR operator and then create and submit a joint development plan for national approval. This development plan must be submitted to the national government by April 28, 2022. This means that the candidate sites and their operator partners will have roughly half a year to create their development plans to submit first for local council approval in late February to March next year, and then finally to the national government by the end of April.
One of the biggest updates to the Japan IRdevelopment procedure was the release of the gaming regulation drafts by the Japan Casino Regulatory Commission on April 2nd, 2021, which focused on licensing requirements and the types of games to be allowed on the casino floors. In terms of licensing, much was borrowed from the requirements for gaming operators in Nevada. As for the games to be played, a run of the mill set of games and their variants that are typical in the Asian market was listed, including baccarat, blackjack, poker, roulette, sic bo, craps, casino war, money wheel, pai gow and electronic gaming machines including electronic table games. However, it is the licensing requirements, not the games, that have caused a bit of stir in the country. The sheer amount of background information required to be submitted goes above and beyond what any normal Japanese company would have expected. This is of course no surprise to those in the gaming Volume 17: Issue 145
Joji Kokuryo, Bay City Ventures, Managing Director
industry, as we know that markets such as Nevada and New Jersey have set extremely high standards in terms of background and suitability reviews. So while Japan’s goal of being the most highly regulated gaming market in the world is still a long ways away, the regulation draft has achieved an important step in clarifying that this will be one of, if not the most, highly regulated industries in Japan. Moving our focus to the actual candidate sites, there has been as much excitement as can be had while nothing is actually happening. To put that 37
