Japan Press Weekly

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2023 April 12 - 18 [SOCIAL ISSUES]

Gov't approves casino project in Osaka, disregarding possible influence in increasing gambling addicts

The Kishida government on April 14 decided to grant approval to a casino-centric integrated resort (IR) plan submitted by the Osaka prefectural and city governments. The Osaka casino project will be put into action.

IR facilities, including a casino, international conference halls, exhibition centers, and hotels, will be constructed on the artificial island Yumeshima in Osaka Bay. They are scheduled to open in 2029 with Japanese financial firm Orix and U.S. casino operator MGM as the main IR operators.

Casino gambling is in violation of the Japanese Penal Code, but the former Abe government in May 2014 excluded IRs from illegal gambling operation in disregard of public criticism. Many people worry that it may lead to an increase in the number of gambling addicts.

In the first place, the IR promotion started to lure inbound tourists. However, the Osaka plan estimates about 10 million Japanese a year will visit to casino and that 70% of casino players will be Japanese.

The president of Japan MGM at a witness hearing of the Osaka City Assembly in March 2022 admitted to a possibility that approximately 2% of casino visitors may become gambling addicts. Hundreds of thousands of Japanese may suffer from gambling addiction.

The Japanese Communist Party Osaka Prefectural Committee issued a statement in protest against the Kishida government decision. The statement points out that casino profits will come from the money of gambling losers amid Osaka's expectation that 70% of casino players are Japanese, and states that the IR project will cause adverse effects to the regional economy rather than make the economy grow. It criticizes the Osaka authorities for shouldering the cost of clean-up of soil pollution as well as of soil improvement which amounts to about 79 billion yen in tax money. It also criticizes the Osaka authorities for offering an unreasonably low rent agreement to the IR.