In Japan and the city of Osaka has reportedly selected a consortium being led by MGM Resorts International to be the preferred operating partner for its tilt at winning one of the nation’s coming trio of integrated casino resort licenses.
Although most gambling is currently illegal in Japan, the coalition government of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe passed legislation in July of 2018 that will see the nation of some 126 million inhabitants license three integrated casino resorts featuring hotels, exhibition facilities and large gaming floors. To be in the race to host one of these Las Vegas-style schemes and candidate locales are first being obliged to select a foreign firm to run their proposed venue in advance of submitting their completed license applications to a panel of federal selectors before the conclusion of an April 28, 2002, deadline.
Ambitious aim:
According to a report from GGRAsia, Osaka is ultimately hoping to be given permission to bring its gambling-friendly development to a 121-acre portion of the man-made Yumeshima Island. The source detailed that the group being fronted by MGM Resorts International was the only runner to officially submit a bid to the city of some 2.7 million people after numerous rivals including the likes of Genting Singapore Limited, Galaxy Entertainment Group Limited, Las Vegas Sands Corporation, Melco Resorts and Entertainment Limited and Wynn Resorts Limited pulled out.
Expensive endeavor:
The government of Osaka reportedly explained that it now plans to release more specific details of the final bid from the MGM Resorts International consortium, which moreover includes local financial services firm Orix Corporation, later in the month but expects the entire project to come with a price-tag in the region of $9.1 billion. The city furthermore purportedly disclosed that the first stage of this development could begin opening as early as 2028 featuring at least 215,278 sq feet of exhibition space that will be expected to top 645,800 sq ft by the end of 2043.
Operator obligation:
MGM Resorts International reportedly revealed in July that it intends to hold a 40% stake in any future integrated casino resort development for Osaka with an equal share being controlled by Orix Corporation. Such a facility will purportedly be obliged to offer no less than 3,000 hotel rooms spread over a minimum of one million sq ft of aggregated space and pay around $182 million to cover the costs of local infrastructure improvements including an extension of the community’s subway system to Yumeshima Island.
Arm anxiety:
GGRAsia finished by reporting that MGM Resorts International is the majority owner of Macau casino operator MGM China Holdings Limited and saw the individual share price for this Hong Kong-listed subordinate drop by almost 27% on Wednesday following the publication of that enclave’s new draft gaming regulations.