Osaka casino resort opening postponed to 2030

The opening of a casino resort in Osaka has been postponed to 2030. This was announced on Tuesday by the authorities of the prefecture and the city of Osaka.

Japan's first casino resort was previously scheduled to open in the second half of 2029. The reason for the delay in the launch of the casino resort was that the authorities of the country delayed the approval of the Comprehensive Plan for the Development of the Casino Resort until April this year.

The Osaka government also said that the initial investment for the project will increase from 1.08 trillion yen to 1.27 trillion yen due to rising building material prices.

As a reminder, according to the law on the KRI, which entered into force on July 19, 2021, three casino resorts are allowed to open in Japan. The federal authorities accepted applications from regions with CRF projects until April 28, 2022. Applications were received from two prefectures: Osaka and Nagasaki. If applications are approved, applicants will be issued licenses for 35 years with the possibility of extending them for another 30 years.

The Osaka Integrated Leisure Resort is proposed to be located on a 49-hectare site on Yumeshima, an artificial island in Osaka Bay. The tender to launch the integrated resort was won by the Osaka IR Consortium (SPC), which includes operator MGM Resorts Japan and local company ORIX.

It is expected that 20.5 million people will visit the IRC annually, of which 14 million will be Japanese citizens, and 6.5 million people will be foreigners. Osaka authorities expect the integrated entertainment resort's gaming operations to reach around 430 billion yen and non-gaming operations to 110 billion yen per year.