Japan’s Nagasaki prefecture has brought forward further details of its plans to host an integrated resort in the country, after releasing its ‘Fundamental Plan Proposal,’ reports Inside Asian Gaming.
The proposal, which accommodates the IR Development Act, states a development budget in the $3bn – $5.1bn region and must include a large hotel, international conference hall and exhibition hall to accommodate at least 12,000 people.
Furthermore, the plans also stress that the region is seeking to acquire land from the Dutch-inspired theme park Huis Ten Bosch to develop its IR.
The city is inviting the receival of business plans from IR operators, with a deeper proposal to be drawn up by March of next year based on the IR Development Law and Problem Gambling Countermeasures, ahead of selecting an operator partner by Autumn 2020.
Planning to open its facility in 2024, the area of the IR will be 31 hectares and will follow government stipulations that total guest room area of the hotel must be at least 100,000 square meters and floor area of the exhibition hall at least 20,000 square meters, while the international conference hall must have capacity for at least 6,000 people.
An admission fee of JPY6,000 will be imposed on Japanese residents as a measure to prevent against addiction.
A maximum of three IR facilities will be approved next year, with Nagasaki, Osaka, Wakayama and Yokohama all having confirmed their plans to bid. Hokkaido, Tokyo, Chiba and Nagoya are yet to confirm their plans.
MGM Resorts International, in a consortium alongside its Japanese partner Orix, is thought to be the front runner as the selected partner to construct a casino resort in the city of Osaka.
This comes as Melco Resorts and Entertainment last week followed the earlier lead of Las Vegas Sands to pull out of the running in the region, with the latter focusing on Tokyo and Yokohama as the former adopts a ‘Yokohama first’ policy in pursuit of a casino resort licence.
It is thought the MGM currently faces competition from Genting Singapore, a subsidiary of Genting Group, Galaxy Entertainment Group and Wynn Resorts, to secure the Osaka green-light.
