Inside Asian Gaming

IAG JAPAN JAN 2021 30 finalized selection criteria to be used in determining the winning bidder must be approved by the prefectural level assembly. Next comes a local-level RFP process in which the city and prefecture request a formal proposal from candidate operators, assess these proposals against their pre- determined selection criteria and ultimately select a winning bidder. Once this is complete, the prefecture and the successful operator (now effectively their bidding partner) need to formulate a “basic agreement” and together create a joint development plan. This joint development plan needs prefectural-level assembly approval, after which it will be submitted to the national government as a hand-in-hand joint bid of operator and local-level government. After this, the national government will consider the joint applications from across the country and ultimately select up to three winning locations in what is referred to as the “first round.” Seven years after the first round, more licences may be issued. WHERE? Since late November 2019, when Hokkaido Governor Naomichi Suzuki announced that Hokkaido was shelving its bid for an IR for the foreseeable future, there have been no changes to the locations across Japan still competing in the IR race. There are four locations which have officially declared their interest, and four locations that are still talked about as possible late entrants to the race. Osaka , once the darling of the process, has seen a raft of operators withdraw to the point that US gaming giant MGM Resorts together with their Japanese partner ORIX are the one and only operator consortium remaining. Nevertheless, Japan’s second-largest city Operators are concerned about the possibility of an election loss leading to Yokohama dropping its IR bid. 事業者たちは、林市長の敗戦が横浜のIR誘致レ ース撤退につながる可能性を危惧している。 COVER STORY