It was last December when the Integrated Resorts Promotion Bill was passed by the Japanese Diet, finally legalizing casino gambling in Japan. The move created an unabating buzz and saw internationally recognized casino developers flocking to Japan on a mission to acquaint themselves with the country’s particularities and to hopefully lay out the foundations of future partnerships with local businesses.
Industry analysts believe that the Japan holds the potential to become Asia’s second most profitable casino jurisdiction behind Macau. According to forecasts, its market may be worth up to $10 billion, which explains the great interest in the country.
Japan caught the industry’s eye years ago. And that massive interest has resulted in the introduction of the Japan Gaming Congress, a forum dedicated to the country’s gambling industry and what the future has for it once its first casinos open doors.
The second edition of the Japan Gaming Congress took place earlier in May. The event was organized by Clarion Events, the company behind some of the world’s largest gambling-related conference and exhibition events, including London’s ICE Totally Gaming.
Curtis Roach, Senior Events Producer at Clarion, kindly answered our questions about the second Japan Gaming Congress, his views on Japan’s potential as a gambling hub, and what they expect from next year’s edition of the forum.
+ The second Japan Gaming Congress took place several weeks ago. Did this year’s edition of the event meet your expectations?
Yes, this year’s edition did meet expectations. We knew that with the passing of the initial promotional IR Bill, interest in Japan would definitely increase. We thought that we might get increased numbers in regards to attendees and general media coverage. The event was even covered on Channel 5 Japan National television, that was slightly more than expected but still a fantastic surprise.
+ In what terms this year’s JgC was different from the inaugural edition of the forum?
Feedback from our first event in 2014 strongly suggested that we needed more input from the domestic market. We had a lot of input from international operators and industry experts but people wanted to hear more from the Japanese based contingent. However due to the public state of affairs and the general Japanese culture it had previously been difficult to get the input from the domestic market we had hoped for.
This time around we managed to get both local and national government members to speak and share their perspective. We also had Japanese businesses come and speak such as Sega Sammy and Takenaka Corporation which, again, was a fantastic addition to the agenda that we didn’t have first time around.
+ What were the main topics discussed at the forum?
Main topics discussed were Problem gambling, the political environment driving the bill, construction and of course financing. In the next edition of JgC we will focus a lot more on the investment/finance side of things. Once the IR projects have been greenlighted, funding them will be a major talking point.
+ What can you say about the event’s speakers?
All of the event’s speakers were high profile and leaders in their sector which made the content even more valuable. Some of the top speakers included Ed Tracey, CEO of Hard Rock Japan, Ed Bowers, CEO of MGM Japan, Haruki Satomi, President and COO, Sega Sammy, and Koichi Hagiuda, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary, LDP. All very influential individuals that have a big stake in the impending IR industry.
+ Japan legalized casino gambling last December. What do you expect from the country’s casino market, once first integrated resorts open doors?
It’s really hard to anticipate what we can expect from the casino market. Everything is just guess work, educated guess work. The IR Implementation Bill is expected to be passed in the Autumn of this year, once this has been published then I’ll be in a much better position to answer that question.
+ Do you share the general opinion that Japan may become one of Asia’s major casino hubs?
I do share this opinion. With the popularity of games such as Pachinko, it’s clear to see that there is a big appetite for gaming. Japan already has many tourist attractions that people from around Asia and the rest of the world flock to. With the legalisation of casinos this will only increase. This appetite for gaming plus an already attractive tourist spot will definitely allow Japan to be one of Asia’s major casino hubs. Especially after recent reports done by Bloomberg and CSLA, placing the potential Japan IR market just after Macau (largest gaming economy in the world) in terms of expected revenue.
+ The second stage of Japan’s casino legislation effort will hopefully be completed by the time the next Japan Gaming Congress takes place. What do you expect from the event’s third edition next year?
As mentioned above the next stage will be focused on the funding of these IR projects. International and Japanese entities will have to work closely with each other in order to bring the IR dream to reality. However nobody quite knows what the dynamic of this relationship will look like. At JgC 3 we will try to shed more light on these potential partnerships and how funds for these multi-billion dollar projects will be raised.
