Osaka prefecture and Osaka city concluded the implementation agreement for the planned integrated resort (IR) on the artificial island of Yumeshima on March 29, 2024, according to a project schedule published by the Kansai Sanpo site1. The agreement follows the government's authorization of the implementation agreement and precedes the operator's application for a casino license1.
The operator is MGM Osaka, formerly Osaka IR Corporation, whose main shareholders are the Japanese arm of US-based MGM Resorts International and Orix1. Osaka prefecture and city selected the MGM Resorts and Orix group as the IR operator in September 20211. The government granted area certification for the Osaka IR in April 20231.
The project's initial investment is 1,513 billion yen, made up of 983 billion yen in equity from MGM, Orix and other shareholders and 530 billion yen in bank loans from lenders including Mitsubishi UFJ and Sumitomo Mitsui1. MGM and Orix each hold 41 percent, while 22 Kansai companies including Kansai Electric Power, Osaka Gas, Panasonic, Kintetsu HD, Hankyu Hanshin HD, JR West and NTT West hold the remaining 17 percent1. The site is about 49 hectares in Konohana ward, Yumeshima, north of the 2025 Osaka-Kansai Expo grounds, with total floor area of about 850,000 square meters1.
Planned facilities include three hotels with a total of 2,500 rooms, an international conference hall with a room seating more than 6,000 people, a 3,500-seat Yumeshima theater and a casino1. The casino is listed with 23,293 square meters of gaming floor area, 470 table games and 6,400 electronic gaming machines, within a casino facility of 61,000 square meters of total floor area1. Payments and entry fees to the prefecture and city are put at 110 billion yen a year, comprising 77 billion yen in payments and 33 billion yen in entry fees1.
"2024年3月29日 実施協定の締結"
What it means for players
The agreement moves the Osaka IR closer to operation but does not by itself permit gambling. Under the schedule in the source, the operator still has to apply for a casino license and the government has to grant it, and neither step is given a date1. The source does not report the license application fee, the entry fee amount for individuals, or the rules that will apply to residents of Japan, expats and visitors at the Osaka casino. Japan's national rules on casino entry, including the entry fee and the limit on visits for residents, are not set out in this source. The source also does not report which games will be offered beyond the counts of table games and electronic machines, or the minimum age or identification requirements at the property.
What happens next
The schedule lists the operator's casino license application and the government's grant of the license as the next steps, with no dates given1.
For background on how casinos and integrated resorts in the region are regulated and who may enter them, see Casinos and Integrated Resorts in Asia: Who Can Enter, What You Can Play and the Rules Inside, and for Japan specifically, Can I Gamble in Japan?.
