Nagasaki assembly approves IR plan, Wakayama rejects

In April 2022 the Nagasaki Prefectural Assembly approved its integrated resort (IR) plan, and in the same month the Wakayama Prefectural Assembly voted down its plan¹. Both votes were part of the national process for selecting sites to host Japan's first casinos inside large resort complexes.

An IR is a large resort that combines facilities such as a convention center, hotel, shopping center, restaurants, a casino, a theater, a cinema, an amusement park, sports facilities and bathing facilities¹. In Japan the casino floor is capped at 3 percent of the total floor area of the IR¹. The national framework allows up to three IR sites nationwide for the time being¹. The IR Promotion Act took effect in December 2016, and the IR Implementation Bill passed the House of Councillors in July 2018 with support from the Liberal Democratic Party, Komeito and Nippon Ishin no Kai, among others¹.

The two April 2022 votes followed Osaka's approval. The Osaka City Assembly passed related bills later that month, with the LDP's city caucus voting against even though the party supports IR nationally¹.

Under the national rules, Japanese nationals and foreign residents of Japan pay an entry fee of 6,000 yen, and local governments are required to put in place measures such as a limit of three visits per week and ten per month and a ban on buying chips with credit cards¹. The government has set out a basic law on gambling addiction measures and obliges each local government to create an environment that discourages dependence¹.

What it means for players

For anyone who gambles in Japan, the April 2022 votes did not by themselves create a casino open to the public. The Nagasaki approval moved that prefecture forward in the national selection process, while the Wakayama rejection removed that site from contention at that stage. No casino inside an IR had opened in Japan at that point, and the rules that will apply to customers, including the 6,000 yen entry fee for Japanese nationals and foreign residents, the visit limits and the credit card ban on chip purchases, are set out in the national framework rather than by the prefectures¹. The 3 percent floor-area cap means the casino is one facility within a larger complex¹. For context on how IR casinos work elsewhere in Asia, see Casinos and Integrated Resorts in Asia, Can I Gamble in Japan?, Can I Gamble in South Korea?, Can I Gamble in Macau? and Can I Gamble in Singapore?.

What happens next

The national government later certified Osaka's plan for Yumeshima in April 2023¹. In December 2023 the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism said it would not certify Nagasaki's IR plan, which included a casino¹. In July 2022 the Osaka Prefectural Assembly rejected by a majority, including Osaka Ishin no Kai, Komeito and the LDP, a proposed ordinance for a local referendum on hosting an IR¹.