Operatornieuws
Japan – Wakayama IR Promotion Council tells prefecture to speed up casino announcement
By Phil - 8 Mei 2021
With the race for a casino licence only involving two competitors, the Wakayama IR Promotion Council wants the Wakayama government to announce its preferred partner as soon as possible.
The competing developers Asian junket investor Suncity Group and Canada-based Clairvest have seen the selection date delayed several times already with spring this tear the current target.
Katsuaki Shirako, secretary-general of the IR Promotion Council, stated: “When considering the era after the coronavirus, Wakayama will have a very difficult economic environment if the IR does not come.”
When pushed on a date, the prefecture’s IR Promotion Office said: “We can only answer that a decision will be made in Spring based on the examination of the selection committee. Nagasaki has just entered its second round of examinations and Yokohama is still only in the RFP stage.”
The plan is to develop a casino on an artificial island called Marina City in the Japanese prefecture of Wakayama, located east of Osaka. It must offer MICE facilities covering 50,000 square meters and a casino covering no more than three per cent of the entire area.
Suncity has said it would spend between HK$30bn and HK$35bn (US$3.8bn to US$4.5bn) on an Integrated Resort in Wakayama, in the Kansai region, on Honshū island’s Kii Peninsula. Suncity CEO Alvin Chau said the vision was for a ‘unique project combining Wakayama Prefecture’s historical tradition, natural landscape and cultural essence.’
Het Bureau had eerder gezegd dat meer dan twintig internationale IR-operatoren uit Noord-Amerika, Europa en Azië hun interesse hadden geuit op een IR-forum dat belangstelling trok van operationele groepen, waaronder Solaire, Lucien Barriere, Mohegan Gaming, Bloomberry Resorts en Galaxy Entertainment. De regering wil dat de IR een hotel met 20 kamers heeft, een congrescentrum en een tentoonstellingsruimte. Marina City ligt op ongeveer 2,500 minuten rijden van de internationale luchthaven Kansai en op 40 minuten rijden van Osaka. De infrastructuur is al goed ontwikkeld met veel hotels en een pretpark gebaseerd op middeleeuwse Europese stadsgezichten.
