Last week, the Japanese government approved the construction of the country’s first casino on the artificial island of Yumeshima, located in the city of Osaka. As reported by Reuters, the works will begin after Expo 2025, an event that will take place in that city. In addition, the project will cost more than 7,000 million euros and will be ready in 2029.
The interest of the big shots. Likewise, MGM Resorts International and Orix Corp are the gaming operators that own 80% of the shares of the consortium that will build the resort, according to Japan Times. The remaining 20% is owned by firms such as Panasonic Holdings and Kansai Electric Power, among others. In addition, according to a document from the Osaka regional government, banks such as MUFG and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp would be willing to contribute almost 4,000 million euros to finance the project.
Promote tourism. In this sense, according to Reuters, this new resort can obtain around 4,000 million euros per year and expects to attract six million international tourists and 14 million national visitors. The Japanese Prime Minister, Fumio Kishida, spoke on this issue, stating in statements reported by Japan Times that “resorts are a necessary initiative to promote our country as a tourist country”, pointing out that these spaces “attract many visitors from Japan and from abroad”.
Lots of business. In addition, The Guardian reported that this resort will include, in addition to the casino, restaurants, shops and other entertainment spaces. Thus, this complex will turn the Osaka region into a “tourist base that will disperse the charm of Japan throughout the world,” according to Fumio Kishida. This translates, additionally, into a lot of business: according to the British media, the resort could generate more than 18,000 million euros per year if three different casinos are built. For its part, the Osaka government estimates that 15,000 jobs will be created.
A process with scandals. On the other hand, the approval of the construction of this resort culminates a process that began in 2018 when the green light was given to the legislation that allowed the construction of these spaces for the gaming industry. Subsequently, the development of this project was paralyzed by the arrest in 2019 of parliamentarian Tsukasa Akimoto -deputy of the ruling party at the time- for having accepted bribes from a gambling operator interested in the project, and by the pandemic in 2020.
Public opinion. It is also a project that has generated so much rejection that various referendum proposals on the construction of the resort have been put forward in recent years, although all of them ended up being rejected. However, in a survey published this month by Nikkei, 45% of Osakans were in favor of the project, while 38% were against it. It should be noted that another survey, carried out by the Mainichi newspaper, indicated that 17% of residents were undecided.
Gambling problems in Japan. All this reflects the distrust that the game generates among the Japanese population. This is because Japan is one of the countries with the highest gambling addiction problems in the world, according to a document published in 2021 by Critical Gambling Studies and prepared by several university researchers. Some of the sports disciplines that generate the most interest among betting fans are horse racing, motor boating, motorcycling and track cycling.
The pachinko. However, the two most popular games among the Japanese are pachislot and pachinko, which are distributed in venues that have an operating strategy that allows owners to circumvent Japanese legal restrictions. In the case of pachinko, it is estimated that there are 7,600 regular players in Japan, who spend around 171,900 million euros annually to play according to data from Business Insider.
Likewise, The Guardian recently cited a government survey published in 2021 indicating that almost three million people, around 2.2% of the Japanese population, had problems with gambling addiction.
The casino responds. For all this, in order to dispel doubts, the Osaka government reported that people must pay 6,000 yuan (around 795 euros) for every 24 hours they spend in the casino of the future resort. In addition, if someone claims that a relative is prohibited from entering the gaming area, said person will be prevented from entering.
A very lucrative business. This Japanese shift towards gambling is based on the objective of boosting the country’s economy. In this sense, Tokyo has decided to ignore the concerns of the population about the negative effects of the gaming industry and bet on a market that moves around 57,000 million euros annually, according to data from the Grand View Research portal.
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