Osaka Suspends IR Process As Japan Now Out Of Casino Business For Now

Osaka has now announced officially that it has suspended its process in relation to integrated resorts for the indefinite future.

The governor of Osaka, Hirofumi Yoshimura told reporters at a press conference that the city which is one of the favourites for a casino resort license that because of the COVID-19 pandemic the city, he said at the conference: “Under the coronavirus situation, the process related to IR has been suspended from the time when previously the prefecture and city announced the postponement of the RFP [request-for-proposal] submission deadline.”

This follows the announcement earlier by Yokohama that it had suspended its process for a casino resort license.

The announcements by two of the favoured cities is no surprise as the impact of the pandemic now is hitting the economic strength of those companies interested in applying. Macau operators who are the most favoured candidates for Japan licenses are suffering hugely due to COVID-19 in their own businesses.

With revenues down by more than 90% in Macau those operators have already halted planned developments there and even those US operators still remaining in the process for a Japanese license are also suffering huge revenue falls back home.

With the cost of developing a resort in Japan costing upwards of $10 billion not many if any Macau or US operators would be willing to look for extra finance to carry such costs at present.

Japan know this also and by putting the brakes on the licensing process now allows operators to recover in their own territories first before looking once again at Japan.

The big question is when will this restart, best estimates would be 2025 until operators both in Macau and the US are at a position where they will be looking for expansion again.