Akihabara News (Tokyo) — While the Osaka casino resort has been licensed and is moving forward, the trajectory of the smaller project in Sasebo city, Nagasaki Prefecture, remains entirely unclear.
It was well over a year ago in April 2022 that the Nagasaki Prefectural Government submitted its application to the central government to have its Integrated Resort (IR) project at the Huis Ten Bosch theme park licensed for development.
On April 13 of this year the big news came down that the Osaka Yumeshima IR had been granted a license, but that the central government wanted more information before it would make its final determination regarding the Nagasaki IR.
While official explanations remain scarce, it is broadly understood that Tokyo’s main concern is that the Casinos Austria-led IR project may lack the financing to deliver the IR on the scale which has been promised.
At the time the licensing application was filed last April, the plan called for a ¥438 billion (US$3.2 billion) investment, of which about 60% would come from banks and other private financiers. As far as is publicly known, this remains the target figure.
However, skeptics have raised doubts for several years about both the financing arrangements as well as projections of the IR’s anticipated level of profitability.
The credibility of the financing commitments certainly hasn’t been helped by the fact that one of the key lenders which had been lined up is Credit Suisse. This investment bank collapsed earlier this year and was taken over by its rival UBS. Presumably the new owners are now reassessing all of Credit Suisse’s projects, including the Nagasaki IR.
It is believed that the central government will decline to issue a license for the Nagasaki IR until it has been provided convincing evidence that the financing is secure.
Meanwhile, local citizen groups opposed to legalized casino gambling have renewed their protests, submitting a fresh petition to the Sasebo city government calling for a cancellation of the project.
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