Up to 20 million visitors from Japan and overseas are expected to use the complex every year, generating sales of 520bn yen, 80% of which will come directly from the casinos. The Osaka government estimates the project will have an annual economic impact worth 1.14tn yen and create 15,000 jobs. In addition to a casino, the complex – to be built on the artificial island of Yumeshima – will include a hotel, an international conference hall, exhibition facilities and a theatre.Īn artist’s impression of the casino project on Yumeshima island. The Osaka complex will be run by the Japanese unit of MGM Resorts International and Orix, a financial services company, along with about 20 local firms, media reports said. A Nikkei business newspaper poll in April found that 45% of Osaka residents were in favour of hosting the resort, with 38% against. In a nationwide poll taken after the 2018 law was passed, 64.8% of respondents opposed plans to build casinos, while 27.6% were in favour.

Once the only major economy to ban casinos, Japan passed legislation in 2016 paving the way to make the industry legal, with parliament later enacting a law to allow the construction of integrated resorts. While supporters pointed to the additional spending that would come from domestic and foreign gamblers, critics warned that casinos would add to Japan’s already serious gambling problem and become a magnet for organised crime. The global casino industry and lawmakers from Kishida’s Liberal Democratic party spent years pushing for a change in the law to allow developers to build casinos in Japan, the world’s third-biggest economy.įoreign casino operators lobbied Japanese authorities for access to a market that could generate huge profits, estimated by some analysts at $20bn a year if three casino complexes are built. The prime minister, Fumio Kishida, said the complex would promote development in the wider Osaka region and “become a tourism base that will disseminate the charm of Japan to the world”.

The city’s bid was approved after “sufficient examination from various perspectives”, the tourism and infrastructure minister, Tetsuo Saito, said on Friday. Authorities in Osaka hope the project will be completed in 2029 at an initial cost of 1.8tn yen (£10.8bn).

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