Inside Asian Gaming

IAG NOV 2020年11月 亞博匯 13 JAPAN PUBLISHES REVISED BASIC POLICY DRAFT ON IRs 日本公佈IR基本政策草案修訂版 請於asgam.com註冊獲取《亞博匯早報》 Sign up to receive IAG Breakfast Briefing at asgam.com THE JAPAN TOURISM AGENCY (JTA) has announced a renewed public consultation period following publication of a new Basic Policy draft. The revised draft includes additions in three key areas, namely increased safety, health and hygiene measures relating to IR areas and facilities as a result of COVID-19, heightened problem gambling requirements for prefectures and new contact rules for national and prefectural staff in their dealings with operators. The latter inclusion follows the IR bribery scandal involving House of Representatives member Tsukasa Akimoto and Chinese online lottery firm 500.com. Public comments had already been solicited for the IR Basic Policy last year, but the JTA wants to garner opinions from the general public regarding the revisions made in response to feedback from the Casino Regulatory Commission. Among the aforementioned additions are seven items related to meetings with operators requiring the involvement of multiple people and which must be held within a government building. They also require records of meetings to be taken and stored. Many local governments hoping to make an IR bid have already set their own contact rules and this will ensure they strictly adhere to a national policy. Japan’s central government also confirmed a nine-month delay to the application period for locations and their operator partners from the original schedule of 4 January to 30 July 2021 to the new schedule of 1 October 2021 to 28 April 2022. The Basic Policy will be rushed to meet this schedule. 在公佈IR基本政策草案 的修訂版之後，日本 觀光廳宣佈將延長公眾諮詢期。 修訂後的草案在三個關鍵領域內有所 增添，即因應新冠疫情增加了對於IR地區及 設施的衛生防疫及安全方面的措施、提高了 對於各縣就問題賭博處理的要求，並針對國 家和地區工作人員在與營運商打交道時制定 了新的聯繫規則。最後一條是由於此前日本 眾議院議員秋元司涉嫌與中國線上娛樂公司 500.com之間的賄賂醜聞。 儘管此前已就IR的基本政策徵求了公眾 意見，但此次觀光廳根據日本賭場監管委員 會的意見，就此次修訂草案再度徵詢公眾意 見。 在上述增添的三個內容領域中，有七個 條款規定與營運商的會議需要多人參與，並 且必須在政府大樓內舉行。這些條款同時要 求做會議記錄並進行存檔。 許多希望參與競標的地方政府已經制定 了自己的規定，此次修訂案將確保他們恪守 國家政策。 日本政府此外確認，IR地點及營運商合 作夥伴的申請期限已經推遲九個月，從原定 的2021年1月4日至2021年7月30日推遲至新 日期2021年10月1日至2022年4月28日。基本 政策的制定有待加快以滿足該新的時間表。