Another suitor is throwing its hat in the ring to gain Japan’s elusive approval for an integrated resort development.
U.S.-based café and casino chain Hard Rock Café International confirmed over the weekend that it is looking for partners as part of the company’s plan to make a “major investment” in the Asian country following reports that Japanese lawmakers are renewing the push for casino gambling legalization.
Hard Rock Café CEO Hamish Dodds told Bloomberg: “We can either play a lead role or a partnership role. We really hope that we can collaborate with Japanese partners and institutions.”
The café and casino chain is the latest operator to announce its willingness to develop an integrated resort in japan. Last week, Las Vegas-based casino operator MGM Resorts International said it is prepared to invest up to JPY1 trillion (USD9.5 billion) to open an integrated resort in Tokyo, Yokohama or Osaka by 2022 or 2023.
Las Vegas Sands chairman Sheldon Adelson also vowed to spend up to USD10 billion if he’s granted a previous Japanese casino license.
Casino gambling is prohibited under Japan’s constitution, but multiple reports have surfaced over the past weeks about a plan to push for the legalization of casino gambling in the country. There is no guarantee that the so-called Integrated Resorts Promotion bill will make the legislative cut, and even if it does, there may not be enough time in the extraordinary session – which wraps up in late November – to address the always contentious casino question.
If it does happen, analysts believe Japan’s casino trajectory may just follow that of Singapore.
“The Japanese gaming market is to be the holy grail,” CLSA Ltd. analyst Aaron Fischer told Bloomberg in a separate interview. He said Japan’s casino industry could be “bigger than Macau,” generating between $10 billion and $40 billion revenue.
Dodds, who attended the integrated resorts and gaming conference in Tokyo last week, believes getting a casino license “is more likely to happen now” since “there’s more noise, there’s greater discussions in the commercial sector about how and when this will be realized.”
