Reports are emerging out of Japan that the central government will not certify a plan submitted by Nagasaki prefecture and its operator partner Casinos Austria to develop an integrated resort with casino gaming in Sasebo City.
Multiple media outlets are citing unnamed sources which they claim have confirmed the Nagasaki IR plan has been rejected, with official confirmation expected as early as today.
Consortiums representing Nagasaki and Osaka submitted their respective IR development plans in April 2022, with the central government announcing 12 months later, in April 2023, that the Osaka submission had been approved.
However, the government also revealed at the time that it was still evaluating the Nagasaki submission amid concerns over funding and the operator selection process.
In July, Nagasaki governor Kengo Oishi suggested there could be changes to its bid to develop an integrated resort on land attached to the Huis ten Bosch theme park in Sasebo, although these were, he said, mainly related to the timing of any potential IR development.
Now it appears any such development has been shelved, leaving Osaka’s integrated resort – being built by a consortium led by MGM Resorts and local partner ORIX – as the nation’s one and only IR project.
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