The CEO of MGM Resorts International, one of the runners for a license for an integrated resort in Osaka, believes that the 2025 deadline for opening the property might be tough but still a doable one.
In a recent interview with the Japan Times, Jim Murren, MGM’s top executive, shared his thoughts on how his company plans to win the race for a casino resort license in Osaka and whether it would be able to meet the 2025 deadline set by city and prefecture officials.
The Japanese government is expected to start discussing the structure of a regulatory committee that will be tasked with overseeing the nation’s integrated resort/casino industry over the course of the next few months. Lawmakers are also set to draft a basic policy that would set out the criteria for the selection of the preferred locations and the operators of the future integrated resorts.
Osaka has long been considered a frontrunner location for the first integrated resort. Hopes are that once the Diet is formally done with drafting the selection principles, the actual selection process and the construction of the properties would progress smoothly and in the quickest possible manner.
Osaka officials said that they want an integrated resort to be built and ready to open on the artificial Yumeshima Island by March 2025, or just a few months before the start of the Osaka World Expo.
Mr. Murren said in his recent interview that while that goal is quite an ambitious one, it is till possible to be achieved. The executive went on to say that he has no “doubts about the abilities of the architects we have on board, or those of the civil planners and general contractors.” According to Mr. Murren, the real challenge “will be getting through the permit process.”
Strong Support from Local Officials
It is believed that if the Japanese government selects Osaka as one of the preferred locations for an integrated resort, the local government would pick the winning bidder for the casino license by August or September 2020.
The city’s bid to host one of the three integrated resorts has seen strong political support from city and prefecture officials over the past several years. Osaka’s Mayor Ichiro Matsui has been one of the most active advocates of the development of a property of this kind on Yumeshima.
Mr. Murren noted that the level of “clarity, passion, and support” for an integrated resort in Osaka is much bigger than in other parts of Japan. If the city wins the right to host a property of this kind, it would look to attract visitors from different economic backgrounds, including high roller gamblers, who would feel tempted to spend big not only at the casino’s tables but also at the resort’s hotels, restaurant and bar, and shops, as well as more budget-conscious visitors.
Mr. Murren said that Osaka will probably be the host of Japan’s first integrated resort with a casino, and that if this turns out to be the case, there will be no room for mistakes. The project will have to be “flawlessly executed” and the finished resort will have to be flawlessly operated, according to the gambling executive.
Aside from MGM, at least three more major gaming and hospitality companies will be bidding for the right to operate an integrated resort in Osaka, with those being Melco Resorts & Entertainment, Genting Singapore, and Las Vegas Sands. According to a previous Morgan Stanley report, an Osaka-based property of this kind could generate $4 billion in annual revenue.
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