The ruling party in Japan – the Liberal Democratic Party – and its junior coalition partner – Komeito – reached an agreement in terms of the so-called integrated casino resorts, revealing that such resorts are to be built in three locations in the country. Reportedly, the two parties have agreed on nine out of eleven key issues in regards to the casino, including the number of casinos to be allowed to operate on the territory of the country.
The talks have marked major progress, as only a few days earlier, at a previous meeting of the parties which took place on March 27th, the Liberal Democrats and Komeito agreed on five out of eleven issues.
At first, the Liberal Democrats had insisted for building the first integrated casino resorts in Japan in four or five locations. However, Komeito had not been willing to see casino gambling in so many places across the country, so it had backed the idea of two or three locations to host the first casinos.
At the time when the Monday talks took place, the Liberal Democratic Party agreed to only three casino resorts in Japan, but it insisted to see the maximum number of integrated casino resorts to be revised seven years after the first facility got approved. Komeito, on the other hand, also made a compromise, as it initially favoured a longer, 10-year period for the review, according to sources familiar with the talks.
Issues that Still Need to Be Resolved
Some of the issues, on which the two parties have reached an agreement since the previous meeting on March 27th, were related to the size of the integrated resorts’ gaming areas, the role that the Japanese Government would have in the casino approval process, as well as to the possible specifications that would be required from such resorts.
The two parties, however, did not manage to agree on the fee that is to be charged to customers in order to allow them to enter the casinos. The ruling party’s coalition partner has favoured an entrance fee amounting to ¥8,000 per capita, citing the one in Singapore, but the Liberal Democratic Party has demanded a lower entrance fee of ¥5,000, explaining that there was a difference in the gross domestic product per capita of Singapore and Japan.
According to sources familiar with the situation, the entrance fee issue is to be discussed by the two parties that are also expected to review a plan on taxing revenues that are set to be generated by the integrated casino resorts. Previously, a proposal for a 30% tax on this revenue had been made.
A new meeting is set to be held on Tuesday in order for the two parties to further discus the remaining issues of the casino gambling legislation that is to be implemented in the country.
- Author
Daniel Williams
