Blair Ellis's blog : Game On: Yokohama participates in the Japan Casino Contest
The casino resort adds a lot of sparkle to Yokohama's waterfront. Getty
The largest and richest region in Japan made its first bets on casinos. May 22 (Upi)ー Yokohama Mayor Fumiko Hayashi announced plans to acquire an integrated resort license. Yokohama is the first area in the Tokyo metropolitan area, including Tokyo, to declare an IR candidate. Bringing 3 million residents to the table - nearly 1 in 4,000 of Japan's population - is an earthquake event that quickly disrupted the competition for 3 IR licenses.
Sheldon Adelson's Las Vegas Sands, the world's largest casino company by market capitalization, announced on tuesday that it would stop pursuing IR in Osaka, Japan's second–largest metropolitan center, in favor of IR in Yokohama or Tokyo, which has subordinated IR interest as it focuses on hosting the 2020 Summer Olympics.
Yokohama's IR request for 2018/8 included 45 requests from casino operators Caesars Entertainment, Wynn Resorts, Melco Entertainment, MGM, Galaxy Entertainment, Genting Singapore, Paradise Group of Korea and Paradise City IR of Incheon. % 22 people, including Sega Sammy, a partner, and several real estate developers, responded. Investment Bank CLSA report identified railway operators Keikyu and Tokyu, Mitsubishi Estate and Mizuho Bank as potential Yokohama consortium partners, it has almost rained yen.
Las Vegas Sands, the founder of Marina Bay Sands Integrated Resort, widely admired in Singapore, has been abandoned. Efforts for Osaka casino license will focus on Yokohama and Tokyo.
Las Vegas Sands, the founder of Marina Bay Sands Integrated Resort, widely admired in Singapore, has been abandoned.After Yokohama and LVS showed their hands, Caesars announced they would abandon the Japanese Quest. The Las Vegas giant has been swallowed up by a much smaller El Dorado resort in a取引17.8 billion deal. The U.S. regional operator, which has gained its first Las Vegas exposure, Eldorado wants to focus on creating domestic synergies and reducing the debt burden cutting 1.35 billion of the deal Lawrence Ho's Melco group announced that it will open its 3rd office in Japan in Yokohama. Ho has promised to relocate Melco's headquarters to Japan if it wins an IR license.
Yokohama, the prefectural capital of Kanagawa Prefecture, is worth the excitement. Beyond demographics, it's a short drive from Haneda Airport, Japan's busiest airport and the most convenient international gateway. Yokohama, by road and rail, is well connected to its northern neighbor Tokyo, a population of 9.4 million, as well as to the rest of Japan. One of the consultants, who asked for anonymity, is concerned that Tokyo residents will come to Yokohama to simply gamble on weekday nights, but the size of the market in the area will allow IR to host world-class entertainment and events. National and international connectivity also bodes well for MICE: Each IR must have 100,000 square meters (1.1 million square feet) of convention and exhibition facilities Investment adviser Sanford Bernstein estimates that Yokohama IR's revenue will reach 880 billion yen (ド8.3 billion).
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CLSA believes that the Yokohama Consortium needs to ensure that it has a period of exclusivity, that is, that Tokyo does not build IR until the 2nd license period, at least 7 years after the first license is granted. However, given that Singapore has less than 10 million IRs in metropolitan areas, including Johor Bahru in Malaysia and Batam in Indonesia, it seems hardly unreasonable that there are 40 million IRs in the richest region in the world.
Yokohama has Yamashita Wharf as its IR base. Set in the shadow of Yokohama Bay Bridge, the 47-hectare (116-acre) site offers easy access to the city's Chinatown and waterfront attractions. However, waterfront operators have formed the Yokohama Port Transportation Association to oppose IR, although the broader Yokohama Chamber of Commerce supports it. After breaking down the gender barrier as a senior executive, Mayor Lin was first elected in 2009. Backed by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Liberal Democratic Party, Hayashi proposed seeking IR in 2014. But during the 3rd term of the 2017 campaign, she declared that she was undecided about the IRs.For more insights, click through the following article
Less than 2 weeks after the IR decision, Lin is already facing backlash from political enemies and civic groups, including the threat of a recall election. The majority of Japan is against the IRs, but Osaka is the obvious exception. Until IR backers, including the Abe administration and casino operators, spend real efforts to inform the public about the potential benefits of integrated resorts, politicians will have their constituents preliminary experiments show that the approach works, but much more effort is needed than sponsoring a performance or exhibition.
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