At a press conference on 30 June, Kazuyoshi Akaba, the Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, stated there would be a decision made on postponement of the application period for local governments to apply for an IR, including a casino, from January to July 2021 until a later date, once they had confirmed the intentions of local governments.
Akaba said, “While the COVID-19 pandemic is still spreading, we have been in contact with local governments intending to submit applications for a bid and confirming whether or not there will be issues with the scheduled application period of January to July 2021.”
Currently four regions have officially expressed their intent to bid: Osaka prefecture/city, Yokohama city, Wakayama prefecture and Nagasaki prefecture.
The application period is scheduled from 4 January to 30 July 2021, but the performance of overseas IR operators hoping to enter the Japanese market has declined due to COVID-19, and local government preparations have been delayed.
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