Japan has admitted that its long-delayed casinos won’t likely open until the latter half of the decade, and that’s if nothing else goes wrong.
On Wednesday, Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) agreed on a revised draft of the country’s basic policy on developing integrated resorts (IR). The formal policy is expected to be finalized by the end of December.
The government now says it will start accepting prefectural governments’ proposed development plans starting October 1, 2021, with the deadline for submission extending to April 28, 2022. That’s around nine months later than the government’s most recent schedule.
And that isn’t the only extended timeline the LDP was forced to acknowledge, as it now says the launch target for the three possible casinos has been pushed back from the ‘mid-2020’s to the ‘late-2020s.’ Hard to believe that at one point the government expressed hope that casinos would open in time for Tokyo’s hosting of the 2020 Olympic Games.
The pandemic forced Japan to delay its Olympics plans by a year (and possibly more), while the integrated resort plans have suffered from other issues, including corruption scandals involving senior Japanese lawmakers having improper contact with would-be casino operators.
The new IR policy maintains that various levels of government, both national and prefectural, along with gambling regulators, must ensure that at least two public officials are present during any meetings with casino operators or gambling equipment manufacturers. Detailed records of all meetings and contacts must also be made and retained.
The LDP has secured agreement with Komeito, the junior member of the LDP’s governing coalition, on the elimination of plans to impose a withholding tax on foreign gamblers’ casino winnings. However, local residents will still need to give the taxman his due based on a net chips-bought versus chips-cashed basis.
The foreigners’ tax-exemption must still be approved by Japan’s cabinet before a final plan is submitted to the full legislature for a vote. This plan is expected to put further flesh on these bare bones, including specifics on tax rates for both customers and operators.
Japan’s painfully slow slog toward its IR goal and souring public sentiment has left only four regions firmly committed to bidding for the right to host one of the three venues: Yokohama, Osaka, Wakayama and Nagasaki. The number of casino operators vying for a Japanese license has also dwindled, in part due to the pandemic forcing a rethink of all big-ticket expenditure, but also due to lingering uncertainties that Japan’s regulatory climate will make any project viable.
