MGM Osaka

What there is

MGM Osaka is a huge integrated resort taking shape on Yumeshima, an artificial island in Osaka Bay. It will be Japan's first legal casino resort, and a ground-breaking ceremony for the project was held there in April 2024³.

The centerpiece is a 27-storey tower rising 126 meters, holding the casino and a theater alongside the hotels¹. The wider resort is designed to include more hotels, convention centers, entertainment venues and large casino floors³. The accommodation planned so far breaks down as follows:

The casino itself is the largest ever planned in Japan. The gaming floor open to the public is expected to stand at 23,293 square meters, or about 250,724 square feet, packed with 470 gaming tables and 6,400 electronic gaming machines³.

Construction is expected to be completed in the summer of 2030, with the opening scheduled for around autumn of that same year³. The operator has said work is on track for that 2030 opening⁶. The project's price tag has climbed to US$10 billion as construction costs have gone up³.

Where to play

The resort sits on Yumeshima, an artificial island in Osaka Bay, west of central Osaka³. The island is being prepared specifically for this development, so when the resort opens, the casino, hotels, theater and convention space will all sit together on one site³. Yumeshima is already a familiar name in Osaka: the island hosted the Osaka Expo, and the casino resort is the next big project for the reclaimed land⁵.

Until then, there is no casino to visit in Osaka, or anywhere else in Japan. What Osaka has today are pachinko parlors and pachislot halls across the city and its suburbs. One example is the Matsubara Kosan amusement venue in Hirakata, in Osaka Prefecture, at Nakamiya Oike 2-chome 32-1, an ordinary suburban parlor of the kind you will find throughout the region⁷.

Live poker also reaches Osaka. The Japan Open Poker Tour (JOPT) runs tournament stops in the city, and you can read more about the series on our JOPT page and our broader guide to poker tournaments in Japan⁸.

For the full picture of what you can legally play in the country today, see gambling in Japan and casinos in Japan.

Games and products

The casino floor at MGM Osaka is planned to carry 470 gaming tables and 6,400 electronic gaming machines, spread across 23,293 square meters of public gaming space³. The operator has not yet published a detailed game list, but the scale puts it in the same league as the big resort casinos of Macau and Manila. For comparison, Okada Manila, one of the largest resorts in the Philippines, runs about 3,000 electronic gaming machines, so MGM Osaka's planned machine count would be roughly double that². Okada Manila was itself billed at opening as one of the biggest bets in the Asian casino business, and MGM Osaka is being built on a larger scale still¹¹.

The resort is far more than a casino. The design includes hotels, convention centers, entertainment venues and a theater, so the complex is intended to work as a destination for meetings, shows and holidays as much as for gambling¹. With around 2,500 hotel rooms and 10 villas, it would be one of the largest hotel clusters in western Japan³.

The company behind the project, MGM Resorts International, also runs a digital business under the LeoVegas brand, offering iGaming, digital slots and table games, live dealer products and online sports betting in markets where those are licensed¹². Whether any of that reaches Japan depends on future licensing, and nothing is on offer there today.

Costs, prizes and payouts

Two numbers matter most at this stage. The first is the cost of building the place: the project's price tag now stands at US$10 billion, after construction costs rose³.

The second is the cost of getting in. Under the framework set when Japan legalized casino resorts, foreign visitors will be able to enter the casino free of charge, while Japanese nationals and residents of Japan are expected to pay an entry fee of JPY 6,000⁴. That fee is a planned figure for the Osaka resort and may be confirmed closer to opening.

No table minimums, machine stakes or prize structures have been announced yet. Those details will come from the operator as the 2030 opening approaches.

Who can take part

The entry rules split neatly into two groups. Foreign visitors, meaning tourists and other travelers who are not residents of Japan, get in free of charge⁴. Locals pay per entry, with the planned JPY 6000 fee applying each time⁵. The practical effect is that a visitor with a passport walks in like any other guest, while locals pay per entry.

Separately, poker tournaments already running in Osaka, such as JOPT stops, set their own age rule: participants must be at least 18 years old, and entries found to be under 18 are voided⁸. The casino's own age and ID requirements will be published nearer opening.

If you are visiting Japan rather than living here, our page on gambling in Japan as a visitor covers what you can play today and how.

Practical tips

The most important thing to know: MGM Osaka does not open until around autumn 2030, once the build wraps up earlier that year³. Nothing at Yumeshima is visitable as a gambling venue today, so plan around the opening date rather than the site.

A few things worth keeping in mind as the project moves forward:

• Getting there. The resort sits on an artificial island in Osaka Bay, so expect new transport links to Yumeshima to be part of the opening setup. Check the access arrangements when you book³.
• Budgeting for entry. If you live in Japan or hold Japanese nationality, factor the planned local entry fee into each visit. Travelers from abroad are expected to get in at no charge⁴.
• Where to stay. With around 2,500 rooms across three hotels plus 10 villas, there should be options at several price levels, from the 1,840 rooms in the main tower to the villas at the top end³.
• Playing today instead. Until the casino opens, the nearest things to a gambling day out in Osaka are pachinko and pachislot parlors, such as the Matsubara Kosan venue in Hirakata, and live poker tournaments like the JOPT stops in the city, which are open to players aged 18 and over⁷. Our pages on pachinko, pachislot and poker in Japan explain how each works.
• Watching for news. Opening dates, game lists, table limits and transport details will all be announced by the operator in the years before opening, so treat anything you read now, including the figures on this page, as the current plan rather than the final word³.