Japan casino bill fails to pass in time

Supporters for casinos in Japan took a major setback as the bill to legalise gambling in the country failed to reach a lower parliament committee on hearing the proposed bill, meaning it will not make the upper parliament in time before the current session ends on 22^nd June.

Now lawmakers are saying it will be impossible to re-arrange a schedule for the committee to hear the bill and pass it upwards for legislation in time for the deadline as normally any proposed bill takes three weeks for passage between the two parliamentary houses.

The only window of opportunity is Friday the 30^th May but lawmakers have scheduled a full day to discuss the country’s Atomic Energy Commission.

“Friday was the only realistic date to discuss the casino bill to get it passed during the current parliament session,” said Sakihito Ozawa, a senior official in the bipartisan group pushing the legislation on gambling.

Another lawmaker in parliament who supports the bill said that he was optimistic casino legislation would become a reality but just “not in the near future.”

The next opportunity will be the autumn session of parliament; however that session is a short window of opportunity for supporters to pass the bill as there are in essence two parts for the bill to be considered before legislation can be made into law, the current bill, which asks the government to create a legal framework for casinos within one year, and a second bill detailing that framework.

Most observers now believe the casino bill will not be discussed now till 2015, given that timeframe it will be a massive struggle for casino operators suitable to run the licensed casinos and build them in time for the 2020 Olympics being held in Tokyo.