Over the next few months, the government is expected to debate the structure of a new regulatory committee that will oversee so-called integrated resort complexes containing casinos and draft a basic policy specifying the selection criteria for such facilities.
For Osaka, considered the frontrunner of the three locations that will be allowed to host the resorts, the hope is that once the Diet formally approves all necessary policies, the bureaucratic process for granting interested localities IR licenses, and subsequent construction, will go smoothly and quickly. By March 2025, just a couple of months before the Osaka World Expo opens, the city wants a casino resort to be up and running.
It's an ambitious goal that MGM Resorts International Chairman and CEO Jim Murren, in a recent interview with The Japan Times, said was hard but still possible. MGM is considered locally to be one of the favorites for winning the rights to build an integrated resort on Osaka's Yumeshima island, where the Expo will also be held, and has over the past few years been working with Japanese firms, including bid partner Orix, to make that happen.