MGM Resorts and Las Vegas Sands lead IR casino battle
Around 20 operators aiming at bidding for Japanese major market cities
On the matter of casinos, three cities are likely to be awarded licences for IRs with casinos, and of these three Osaka, in the Kanto region, is the only city that has made formal announcements of its intention to host an IR bid, hoping that its first IR is completed in time for the 2025 World Expo.
It is no surprise then that two US heavyweights, Las Vegas Sands and MGM Resorts, are making loud noises about locking horns with bids for the Osaka IR licence, albeit there are seven operators that have responded to Osaka’s RFC (due in August 2019).
MGM chairman and CEO Jim Murren believes Japan to represent the highest ROI gaming IR opportunity in the world right now. Murren’s comments made during a fireside chat with Bernstein analysts at its 2019 Strategic Decision Conference, back up MGM Resorts’ commitment to their “Osaka First” policy which was confirmed by their alliance with Orix.
Speaking about the bid, Murren said that Japan is a “once in a lifetime opportunity” and that the demographics of locals in the Kansai region, along with infrastructure and connectivity is ideal for a casino IR, and as has recently become possible to understand with increased clarity which IR operators will be bidding for Japan’s two major markets, where the Kanto and the Kansai regions are the pick of the bunch.
The other six major market IR operators prepared to build casino and IR facilities with investment in the range of US$10 billion are: Caesars Entertainment, Galaxy Entertainment, Genting Singapore, Melco Resorts & Entertainment, Tokyo-based Sega Sammy. Wynn Resorts:
Additionally, there other twelve operators or investment groups that have been openly examining IR bids in Japan, including, French casino IR group Barrière, Bloomberry, Casinos Austria, Clairvest, Foxwoods, Hard Rock, Mohegan, and SJM.
