Akihabara News (Tokyo) — At no point has the Japanese general public supported the legalization of casino gambling, and even now opposition to the unpopular initiative is unrelenting.
Two local governments, Osaka and Nagasaki, submitted at the end of April licensing applications for their Integrated Resort (IR) plans, and as these projects have come closer to realization, opponents of casino gambling appear to be stepping up their activities, sensing that this might be the last chance to head off these developments.
While the mainstream news media often takes a pro-business stance, in this case they have been unremittingly critical.
There are various factors that contribute to this stand. First, they are simply reflecting the broader views of the Japanese public. Second, the casino companies are not yet spending a lot of money on advertising, which might otherwise have compromised the newspapers’ editorial positions. Finally, foreign companies will play central roles in the early stages of IR development, and the system has always been highly allergic to foreigners exercising significant influence within Japanese society.
In this context, it’s worth noting that all of the potential IR operators backed by Chinese money were pushed out in the final round. But even the North American and European consortiums will be met with suspicion.
The Nishi-Nippon Shinbun, the leading local newspaper of the Kyushu region, once again published an editorial expressing its doubts:
The number of tourists from overseas, who are supposed to become the main customers, has decreased sharply, and the use of online casinos and international conferences has taken root. The premise of establishing businesses that build large-scale facilities and attracts customers from home and abroad is breaking down. Nonetheless, the national government has stipulated conditions for building huge hotels and international conference halls, and the two plans submitted for licensing have been prepared accordingly. Many people may wonder if this is a business that truly suits the times.
The editors of the Nishi-Nippon Shinbun are hardly alone in arguing that the national IR promotion policy may already be outdated, and that if these projects go forward and open their doors later in the 2020s, there’s a strong chance they will fail to deliver on their golden promises.
For example, Shizuoka University Professor Yoichi Torihata told the Mainichi Shinbun this week that “the world where wealthy people gather from all over the world to play at casinos has disappeared.”
While that may be overstated, there is indeed plenty of reason to doubt that mainland Chinese VIPs will be spending huge sums in the prospective Japanese IRs, especially as the clouds overhanging regional diplomatic relations have darkened and Beijing has become less tolerant of the gambling industry as a whole.
In Osaka, where the strongest IR initiative is found, the opposition Liberal Democratic Party has decided to hammer at the credentials of the ruling Osaka Restoration Association by submitting a draft ordinance to combat gambling addiction, presenting themselves as the guardians of the public welfare.
This comes amidst a national controversy regarding a young man in Yamaguchi Prefecture who claimed to have quickly lost via online gambling hundreds of thousands of dollars mistakenly sent to him as Covid relief funds by his local town office. Some commentators have seized on this incident as providing yet another example of the iniquities of gambling.
In these various ways, IR opponents continue to chip away at the legitimacy of an already shaky, vulnerable effort to build casino resorts in Japan.
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