The political partner of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), Komeito, says the number of initial casino licenses issued by the government should be limited to three.
The comments, quoted by Bloomberg, were made by Kiyohiko Toyama in an interview in Tokyo, with the head of head of Komeito’s casino panel suggesting that more licenses could be awarded at a later date if the integrated resort experiment proved successful.
“For Komeito, I think it will be extremely hard to go higher than three,” Toyama said. “If it goes well we could increase it a bit. Komeito is not saying three should be the limit forever, but let’s try three to start with.”
The debate over what Japan’s impending casino legislation might look like has picked up steam in recent weeks as the LDP prepares to introduce its IR Implementation Bill to the Diet.
Among the proposals being considered by the Shinzo Abe government is a proposal to charge residents a ¥2,000 fee, equivalent to US$19, to enter the nation’s casinos with the fee to apply to all Japanese residents regardless of nationality.
Also on the cards is a 15,000 square meter limit on the total area covered by any single integrated resort, with the casino to comprise no more than 3% of the total floor space. The government has suggested a tax rate of 30% for annual revenue up to ¥300 billion (US$2.8 billion), rising to 50% for annual revenue of between ¥400 billion and ¥500 billion (US$4.7 billion).
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