Japan to Establish Casino Management Committee Regulatory Body in Early 2020

The government of Japan has announced that it will instate a brand-new gambling regulatory body at the beginning of 2020. This institution’s duties will be overseeing the forthcoming land-based casino industry in the country.

Unusually for Japan, this regulatory body commission is six months late, as it was supposed to be established this summer. However, numerous developments regarding integrated resorts casino market in Japan have given priority to various other activities.

Who Will be in Charge of Gambling in Japan?

The body is set to be named Casino Management Committee and it will consist of a board of five people that will congregate on January 7th to begin their job. They will be formed as Japan’s Cabinet Office’s independent arm. The idea is for this Casino Management Committee to ultimately employ 100 people. The country’s parliament is yet to confirm who will lead the organization.

The gambling industry’s aspects of finance, regulation, planning, research and general affairs will be under their supervision. They will be responsible for handing out gaming licenses to operators of the future three integrated resorts, for enforcing regulations and for general monitoring of the market.

The Rules Under New Regulations

Interested casino operators who wish to develop and construct a casino resort in Japan will need to obtain a casino business license in order to make the gambling hall and a casino facility license in order to be allowed to operate the property.

This is a decision found in regulations that were agreed and published as a part of general consultation process in September.

Under these regulations, gambling grounds must cover, at most, 3% of the overall area of integrated resort. The consultations ended on October 3rd and the government of Japan is now developing a regulatory framework. Criteria for selecting host-cities will be defined in this regulation. Tokyo, Osaka and Yokohama are among the cities who are contenders for hosting the facility.

With the formation of Casino Management Committee, Japan will publish the final set of regulations and some media sources claim that this too could happen as early as January.

The sites for integrated resorts still haven’t been chosen on, of course, and the process of picking operators for running of each site will be even more difficult. Current estimates say that the first of three integrated resorts could open no sooner than 2025.

MGM Firmly in the Lead

One of gambling operators that are currently leading the race for Japan IR license is MGM Resorts International.

Their CEO for Japan, Ed Bowers, said during the presentation of company’s plans to audience during Osaka International Convention Center:

“The first Japanese IR must be the best in the world. For that purpose, partnerships with the local area are important. MGM and ORIX are all in. For us, it’s only Osaka.”

Convention center president and representative director, Shinchi Fukushima, added that “IR bid is already reaching the final stages. There is no doubt that it will be an unprecedented growth-type IR, and an Osaka IR and World Expo will energize Osaka.”

Source:

“Japan aims to establish casino regulator by January 2020”, igamingbusiness.com, October 22, 2019.