Inside Asian Gaming

IAG JAPAN JAN 2020 44 For now at least, Japan’s northernmost main island of Hokkaido has withdrawn from the IR race. 少なくとも今のところは、日本列島最北にある北海道がIRレースから撤退した COVER STORY 9. TOMAKOMAI CITY (HOKKAIDO PREFECTURE) City population: 175,000 Prefecture population: 5.3 million Suitors: Clairvest Group, Hard Rock, Melco Resorts and Entertainment, Mohegan Sun, Rush Street Gaming, SJM Holdings Governor Suzuki announced effective withdrawal on 29 November but a chorus of local voices is calling for a rethink • • • • The city of Tomakomai in Hokkaido Prefecture had been the subject of intense speculation as a potential IR location for years, enjoying strong support from local business groups who saw their IR dream as the panacea to the island of Hokkaido’s economic woes. Despite the city council of the preferred IR site passing a resolution just the month before to promote an IR bid, Hokkaido Governor Naomichi Suzuki made a shock announcement on 29 November which seemed to kill any chance of a Hokkaido IR, at least in the foreseeable future. Addressing the Hokkaido assembly, Governor Suzuki stated, “As a result of careful consideration, I had reached the conclusion that I would like to give an IR bid a shot, however the candidate site is likely to be a habitat of rare animals and plants, and the appropriate environmental considerations would be impossible in the restricted schedule.” Since Governor Suzuki’s announcement a chorus of voices calling for a rethink has emerged, not least of which being Tomakomai City Mayor Hirofumi Iwakura, who said, “I can only say that it is a real shame. Frankly, I just have this feeling of ‘why?’” That chorus also includes local government members and the Hokkaido business community. At least one candidate operator, Hard Rock Japan, has vowed to continue pursuing a Hokkaido IR. Given that other candidate locations seem unbothered by the “environmental considerations” Governor Suzuki cited for his decision, and that Hokkaido’s own regulations may allow for a quicker environmental study to be completed, we may not have heard the end of Hokkaido as a potential location. Watch this space.