Japanese politicians continue to send mixed signals about the prospect of legislation legalizing casino principles in Japan being passed this parliamentary session.
On Wednesday, GGRAsia was told by a person with direct knowledge of the matter that a cross-party lobby of Japanese lawmakers would make the “best effort” to ensure the passage of the revitalization bill this session.
On Tuesday, Reuters quoted three unnamed sources as saying the first legislation to allow casino principles, known as the IR [Unified Resorts] Bill, would be delayed “indefinitely.”
The report cited political hurdles, with two female members of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s Cabinet resigning within hours on Oct. 20.
Tokyo-based GCM-News editor Aki Tsuruoka told GGRAsia in an email on Wednesday that he had a phone call with Iwaya Takeshi, secretary-general of the IR Caucus in Japan’s parliament that morning, and that he still hoped the bill would be passed this session.
Mr Tsuruoka told us: “This morning the IR Caucus held a board meeting in Parliament to adjust the timeline for discussions on IR legislation. Mr Iwaya said he was willing to make the best effort to ensure IR legislation is passed in this session,” Mr Tsuruoka added.
GCM-News is a service of Gaming Capital Management Inc., a Tokyo-based casino industry consulting firm.
If the first of the two bills fails to pass the National Assembly by Nov. 30, when this session ends, it will have to be pushed back to the first of two parliamentary sessions in 2015.
Neither session has been announced yet. However, the first session typically runs from the fourth week of January to the fourth week of June, or 150 days, according to Mr. Tsuruoka.
If the passage of the IR bill is pushed back to the end of the session, the schedule for a second bill dealing with casino regulation and management is also likely to be pushed back.
It is not yet clear whether the casino resort’s location will be mentioned in the first bill, the second bill, or whether it can be addressed by administrative regulations.
In any case, it may take at least three and a half years to build and test a resort or resort with a possible price tag of $10 billion each, a figure cited by several foreign casino operators, including Las Vegas Sands Corp., aiming to have the resort ready for the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics. The latter deadline was previously mentioned by the current Japanese government.
On Wednesday, Bloomberg News reported that Mr. Iwaya of the IR Caucus told the media at a briefing that he would ensure the progress of the bill in this parliamentary session. The report did not specify whether this was intended to ensure the actual passage of the bill. 에볼루션 바카라사이트
Bloomberg signaled support from Prime Minster Komeito