Casino Opposition in Japan Urges Government for More Transparency

Wakayama Network has been long known as one of the most fierce anti-casino groups in the country. It has previously urged the local Government to provide more transparency on the legislation process related to Integrated Resorts and the expected casino expansion.

Reportedly, the citizen activist Masayoshi Hatanaka, who is also known as an ex governmental candidate serving as the new organisation’s Secretary General, officially urged the Government of Japan to make audit reports accessible to the wider public. The report have been prepared by Deloitte Tohmatsu, an auditing advisory company, and are associated with the economic viability of the establishment plan for the Integrated Casino Resort that is to be located in Marina City.

Number of Integrated Resorts Set to Be Determined

According to media reports, the proposal for the casino fee is to be added to the Integrated Resorts Implementation Bill, which is still being delayed in the Congress of Japan. For the time being, local legislators have revealed that a bill has been prepared, by restricting possible operating licenses in certain limits in the cities of Tokyo and Osaka.

In addition, a number of smaller casino operating licensed could be granted to companies in other locations.

The regular Diet session of Parliament is expected to come to an end on June 20th. The implementation of the IR Implementation Bill may get the green light in the period between April and the end of the session, but no specific date has still been marked.

As recently reported by Casino Guardian, the number of casinos in Japan is yet to be decided, with the overall number of casino resorts yet to be determined by the Japanese Government. For the time being, no consensus has been reached on the matter by the ruling party. At the middle of last week, a working group of Liberal Democratic Party members attended a meeting to hear proposals regarding the Integrated Resorts Implementation Bill. Unfortunately, no agreement was made on various aspects of the piece of legislation, including the maximum number of casinos that would be allowed on the territory of Japan.

Previously, the ruling party has revealed that two or three casino resorts operating licenses are to be initially granted to companies, and another ten resorts set to be developed over the following years. The Japanese Government has been focused to attract more tourists to the country. In 2017, an 11% increase in the number of foreign visitors was registered in Japan in the period from January to November, with the Japan National Tourism Organisation providing estimates that these numbers could rise and exceed current figures.