Japan closer to casinos on mainland

Japan is moving further along to legalizing casinos on its mainland with most of the major casino operators now scouting the country for preferred destinations to build resorts.

Las Vegas Sands, Caesars, MGM, SJM and Melco Crown are all sending representatives to the country to review their options once the country passes legislation allowing for casinos to enter the country. Since Japan was selected to host the 2020 Olympic Games recently excitement has been raised among the large casino operators that gambling casino style will be present in the country before the Olympic Games begin.

It is estimated that allowing casinos into the country could generate over $10 billion in revenues per year along with creating thousands of jobs.

 “Victory for Tokyo’s Olympic bid will be beneficial for legislation to legalize casinos,” said Mr Jay Defibaugh, an analyst at CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets in Tokyo.

“We have all the ingredients to make it happen, so anything that gets the administration to put a high priority on casinos versus all the other issues they’re dealing with is good.”

With Japan struggling economy since the Tsunami bringing in casinos would help with rebuilding the infrastructure again ready for the costly Olympics. All the operators interested in what could be one of the last big sectors for gambling in the World would most likely have to partner up with a Japanese based company with names for partnering up given as Mitsui & Co, Mitsubishi Corp and Itochu Corp and gaming machine makers Sega Sammy Holdings and Konami Corp.

Observers in the region believe that casinos could be up and running by 2017 should the Japanese government push through legislation allowing for games of chance to be operated within a casino enviroment.