Last week’s award of the 2020 Summer Olympic Games to Tokyo was hailed by the gaming industry as a catalyst for legalised casinos in Japan.
The country has to find a means to pay for an estimated $1.53bn in Olympic venues before the world’s athletes descend upon Tokyo. Two large-scale resorts - one each in Tokyo and Osaka - could be worth $10bn in annual gaming revenues, said Union Gaming Group Principal Grant Govertsen. Those figures would surpass the Las Vegas Strip, which produced $6.2bn in revenues in 2012.
Casino operators could be taxed as much 10 per cent nationally on gross gaming revenues and also pay local fees and licensing costs. “We think the government should consider integrated resort development, at least in Tokyo, as a means to help the related Olympics infrastructure come to fruition,” Govertsen told investors the day after the announcement.
Nevada’s largest casino operators flew to Japan to scout potential gaming locations soon after news of the Olympics broke.
