Supplier News
Japan – Okinawa rules itself out of Japan’s casino revolution
By Phil - 6 January 2015
Okinawa, the southernmost prefecture in Japan, and one of the regions tipped for an integrated Casino Resort in Japan, has pulled out of the race with a change in its prefectural government citied as the main reason.
Okinawa Governor Takeshi Onaga only came into office towards the end of 2014 and has always been opposed to casinos. He revealed that the prefectural government would not allocate finance for casino research projects in its 2015 budget.
Governor Onaga said: “It [a casino] could have a negative impact on the tourism industry, which has been doing well thanks to the influence of soft power, including nature, history and traditional culture. Gambling addiction is also a concern.”
The prefectural government has been studying the impact of casino resort since 2007 with estimates that an integrated resort in the suburbs would create around 54,000 jobs.
The Tokyo metropolitan government stated: “We hope progress toward lifting the ban on [integrated resorts] won’t slow down just because of Okinawa’s negative stance.”
On a national front, Kazuaki Sasaki a professor at Nihon University College of Economics and a director of the Integrated Resorts Gaming Academy said he expects the casino law to be approved by November 2015 with the IR implementation legislation approved in 2016.
