Komeito has yet to make up its mind on the bill, but is more cautious, due to ethical concerns. The opposition Democratic Party, meanwhile, remains largely against the bill.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, the proposed legislation was debated in the Lower House, as the bill\u2019s backers sought to bring Komeito on board. The Democratic Party, meanwhile, boycotted the debate.<\/p>\n
Hiroyuki Hosoda, chairman of the ruling LDP\u2019s general council and head of a cross-party group of pro-casino politicians, stressed the benefits to the economy.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe economic effects will spread to areas even outside those where [the casinos] are located.\u201d Hosoda said, citing the boom in construction, jobs, tourism, and central and local government taxes that he said the legislation would bring throughout the country. <\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n“It\u2019s fundamental that the profits from casino facilities are returned to society,” he added.<\/p>\n
The LDP also emphasized that, while the legislation is known to most as \u201cthe casino bill,\u201d it should really be known as \u201cthe IR bill,\u201d because it proposes not merely gaming, but integrated resorts. The vision is for all the amenities that have made Las Vegas’ fortunes swing up in the past few years.<\/p>\n
Sleeping Giant<\/h2>\n
Japan has been hailed as the sleeping giant of casino gaming. It\u2019s a market that, if opened up to the world, could be the second-biggest globally, after Macau, with some analysts predicting it could be worth as much as $40 billion down the road.<\/p>\n
Naturally, foreign casino companies have promised billions in investment dollars should the bill pass, each desperate to gain a head start in what is likely to be a fiercely competitive bidding process for licenses.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody is looking at Japan,” Lawrence Ho, chief executive officer of Melco Crown, told Bloomberg this week. “The Japan legislation seems like it\u2019s finally going forward. I personally have been lobbying it for many, many years. We would be extremely interested and will definitely participate in it, if we are lucky [enough] to.”<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Japan could pass legislation to make casinos legal before 2016 wraps up, although the country\u2019s lawmakers will be cutting it close. The Kyodo newswire reported Tuesday that the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) is optimistic that the country\u2019s casino bill will be approved by the Lower House of the Diet in a plenary session on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":42397,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,13,18,61],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Japan Could Yet Legalize Casinos Before End of Year<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n