On Wednesday, May 15, the inaugural edition of the Japan IR Expo officially kicked off at INTEX Osaka in Osaka. The event, which was part of the city’s increased efforts to host one of the country’s first integrated resorts with dedicated casino gaming space, run for two days and hosted over 10,000 visitors most of whom were interested in the development of Japan’s integrated resort and casino gambling sectors.
Osaka has been among the favorite cities in the race for hosting one of the first three integrated resorts in the country. This is part of the reason why the city was selected to be the host of the very first Japan IR Expo.
All this was set in motion back in 2016 when the Japanese Diet legalized casino gambling as part of larger integrated resort (IR) properties. This was accompanied by the summer 2018 approval of the fundamental rules under which Japan’s nascent casino would be regulated. While it is yet to be seen which three Japanese cities will be lucky enough to be awarded the licenses to host the integrated casinos, there very little doubt that Osaka will be one of them.
The law that enabled this also requires that, among other things, the integrated resorts include facilities for international conferences as well as hotel and lodging facilities. This implies that Osaka (if it is chosen) will be able to finally make up for its shortage of modern meeting and convention facilities.
If awarded the license, Osaka hopes to have a casino resort up and running by the 2025 World Expo – hopefully, the license will issue the license very soon and the development of the integrated resort can kick off. Once it goes live, the city and prefecture officials believe that the facility will be able to host over 24 million people every year.
Support from Major Gambling Companies
Unsurprisingly, hundreds of exhibitors graced the event in order to present their integrated resort and vision ideas. Some of the most notable names in this regard include MGM Resorts Japan LLC, Melco Resorts & Entertainment Ltd., Caesars Entertainment Japan LLC, Las Vegas Sands Corp., and Wynn Resorts Ltd. Some of the other players in attendance were a decent number of entertainment and construction companies, banks as well as other firms that are interested in being involved in the integrated resorts.
Late last month, the city’s officials launched a request-for-concept application phase during which the interested parties would be allowed to show why they are the best candidates for the forthcoming integrated casino. This request-for-concept application phase is set to come to an end on May 24.
