Akihabara News (Tokyo) — Casinos Austria International Japan beat out four competitors to become the Integrated Resort (IR) partner of Nagasaki Prefecture for development of the Huis Ten Bosch site in Sasebo city.
This means that three of the four local governments that are planning to apply for the three available casino resort licenses to be offered by the central government next year now have selected their consortium partners.
Casinos Austria International was the only state-owned casino firm that joined Japan’s IR race, and it would appear that the stability that comes with dealing with a public enterprise may have been attractive to the prefectural authorities in Nagasaki.
Casinos Austria International first announced its interest in the Japan market at an event held at the Austrian Embassy in Tokyo on November 5, 2018.
While little has been revealed about the shape of Casinos Austria’s plan for the Nagasaki IR, the inaugural president of the Japan branch, Akio Hayashi, had initially emphasized his hopes to create “the world’s first IR facility that includes a medical mall.” He also spoke in 2018 of a “clean, safe, secure” venue that might feature performances by the Vienna Philharmonic, the Vienna Boys’ Choir, and other classical music groups.
Casinos Austria International was established in 1976 as the international arm of its parent company, Casinos Austria AG, whose own history traces back to 1934.
At the end of last week there was some controversy in the Nagasaki selection process when one of the other finalists, Oshidori International Development, angrily announced that it was dropping out of the race due to “restrictive and unreasonable rules imposed by Nagasaki Prefecture” and “serious ethical irregularities.” It was not specific about the nature of its complaints.
At any rate, the announcement from Nagasaki Prefecture issued today indicates that Oshidori was the runner-up in the race, with the Taiwanese-Japanese consortium Niki Chyau Fwu (Parkview) Group placing third.
Nagasaki Governor Hodo Nakamura comments, “I sincerely thank all that have taken part in this [Request for Proposal] procedure during a very trying time in the world, and would like to express gratitude for the excellent proposals which put on full display the unique features of the operators…Going forward, our next course of action is to come to a master agreement with the priority negotiation rights holder. The prefecture will continue its efforts toward receiving national approval for developing an integrated resort in Nagasaki.”
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