According to the announcement published in respected Japanese media, the prefectural government of Okinawa has decided to abandon its intentions to establish integrated resorts, concentrated in a close proximity of a casino venue.
The current Governor – Takeshi Onaga – who took the reigns of the Okinawa Prefecture last month, has always been known as an opponent of the development of the local gambling segment.
Although the casino expansion has been a subject to various surveys, discussions and researches, local authorities had the final say and the casino projects are not likely to get the nod in 2015 since no funds will be set aside for them to be backed. In other words, the budget for 2015 does not provide any money for casino expansion ventures.
However, there is another side of the coin. Casino legislation has lots of proponents among the Japanese politicians. Although, for the time being, any form of gambling activities is prosecuted and penalized, authorities planned to expand the gambling industry with the aim of improving the economy.
The final decision of Okinawa officials means that the entire country is going to lose a significant amount of money as no gambling faculty is going to be established in the Prefecture.
Back in 2007, the idea for a possible expansion of the gambling industry was put forward. According to the initial plan, integrated family-oriented resorts were about to be built.
If their plan has been finalized, local economy would have benefited and a great number of local residents would have been hired as casino workers.
In addition, the establishment of casino venues in Okinawa would have been favorable due to one more reason. Large areas of land will need to be utilized once the military bases of the United States are returned to the region.
The sum of money set aside for development of the casino industry during the current fiscal year was well over ¥86 million. As soon as the basic plan for the future expansion was ready, Okinawa authorities expressed their concerns that gambling expansion would have a severe effect on the tourism and gambling addiction issues are likely to arise.
However, the casino project termination will most probably be followed by changes in the resolution, concerning the promotion of the local tourism sector.
The Japanese government has scrutinized all possible advantages and disadvantages of the casino projects by appointing a study team in the Cabinet Secretariat. As a result, the integrated resorts were included in the agenda, related to the nation’s growth.
As already mentioned, a significant number of Japanese politicians support the casino expansion but Tokyo officials said that they are getting concerned about the integrated resorts because of the fact that the new governor is against the casino expansion.
Nevertheless, a representative of the government said that they remain hopeful that integrated resorts ban won’t slow down.
