Japan Integrated Resort Bill Becomes Law July 19, Bidding Begins in October

Japan s integrated resort casino law will go into effect on Monday, July 19, 2021. The law was passed in July of 2018 by the National Diet.

Known as the IR Implementation Act, the legislation decriminalizes commercial gaming for operators who obtain a casino license from the central government.

The bill additionally sets the regulatory framework for the application and review process that Japan s Casino Administration Committee will use to determine which schemes will be awarded the coveted permits. The Act allows for as many as three IR licenses.

The purpose of the act is to outline the fundamental principles, policies, and other matters relating to the implementation of Specified Integrated Resort Areas, according to the IR Implementation Act.

Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga s Cabinet this week voted to make the 2018 casino regulatory law effective on Monday. 

When Japan first began discussing the idea of legalizing commercial gambling, the global gaming community viewed the potential market as the largest opportunity since China s Macau. The world s biggest casino operators Las Vegas Sands, MGM Resorts, Wynn Resorts, Caesars Entertainment, Melco Resorts, to name a few said they would spend whatever it takes to obtain gaming rights in Japan.

But because of the long, tedious process, Japan embarked on in moving to legalize gambling, and then the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, much of that hardy interest is gone.  

Sands and Caesars are out, and MGM says it wants to take a reduced investment role in an IR. Melco has greatly backtracked on CEO Lawrence Ho s 2018 comments that his firm would have an open checkbook when it comes to Japan, saying that Melco prefers not to constrain our dreams with price tags.

Negative public opinion regarding bringing casinos to Japan has resulted in only four cities Osaka, Yokohama, Nagasaki, and Wakayama remaining in the bidding pool. And that number could be reduced to three next month should Yokohama Mayor Fumiko Hayashi fail to win reelection, are running on anti-IR agendas. 

The interested cities and their host prefectures have been working on which IR consortium pitch to select. Once they do, they will make their cases for licensure to the central government and Japan s Casino Administration Committee.

The Casino Administration Committee will begin fielding IR schemes in October, and welcome proposals through April of 2022. 

The says the casino projects should take advantage of the regional characteristics of where they re built, and contribute in a positive manner to their host city and surrounding areas. 

The government shall take necessary measures so that the Specified Integrated Resort Areas will have the features central to establishing genuine internationally competitive and attractive tourist destinations while utilizing regional characteristics, the law explains.