Yokohama Integrated Casino Resort Hopes Dashed

While many operators refer to Japan as a grey market for online gambling, meaning it is not regulated but also that players run no risk of being criminalised, this is not the case according to the Japanese police who claim to have arrested players for gambling online.

Despite gambling being incredibly popular with residents, the Japanese government has extended their resistance towards the hobby by not moving ahead with land-based casino gambling. Even though a 2018 amendment to local gambling law made brick and mortar casinos legal in Osaka, Tokyo, and Yokohama no licenses have been awarded.

 Dark Times for Yokahama IR

While the amended regulation would allow for an integrated casino resort to be built in Osaka, Tokyo, and Yokohama the best option prior to the most recent mayoral election was looking to be Yokohama.

However, when the dust settled the people of Yokomaha had chosen to elect anti-IR campaigner and former Yokohama City University Professor Takeharu Yamanaka as the mayor for the next four years.

Joji Kokuryo, Managing Director of Bay City Ventures, said:

“Yamanaka’s campaign clearly gained steam in the last two weeks. His sometimes-over-the-top anti-IR stance was effective in confirming that he would put an end to the unpopular policy in the city. He showed a timely skill set, promoting his experience in data science and vaccination studies to show that he is best suited to lead the city through the current COVID crisis.”

Running on a campaign of casinos and gambling being the “poison apple” that is set to destroy Japanese culture and its youth Yamanaka shot ahead in the polls scooping up the win with 506,392 votes. This represents a landslide victory over the pre-election favourite to win, Hachiro Okonogi, who only managed 325,947 votes.

Casino In Search of a New Port

With the ousting of three-term mayor Fumiko Hayashi from power, all the plans by the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) to see an economy-boosting IR built-in Yokohama by 2027 have come to a complete standstill.

Their only hope for seeing a casino resort being built and operated by either Genting Singapore or Macau's Melco Resorts and Entertainment is to claim a decisive win in the presidential election which is expected to be held as soon as the current Covid-19 state of emergency expires.

The recent political losses by the LDP are not doing much to give the companies who have been involved in the long term approval process for Yokohama any sense of comfort with Brendan Bussman, director of government affairs at Las Vegas gaming and hospitality consultancy Global Market Advisors, calling the process to date “an exercise in futility”.

While Yokohama was the most promising of three key regions under consideration if Yamanaka succeeds in withdrawing it from the race, then it will be up to the LDP to see what it can do to make it appealing to Osaka and Tokyo to see it through to fruition.