Japan Expects To Set Up Gambling Commission By Jan 2020

Japan has disclosed its plan to create an organisation that will oversee and regulate all of the nation’s land-based casinos. The gambling commission is expected to be established in January 2020.

The gambling watchdog will be called the Casino Management Committee (CMC) and will be comprised of a 5-person board appointed by the government and will function as an independent extension of the Cabinet Office.

Originally, the CMC was supposed to employ 95 people but the number has now gone up to 100.

The Japanese parliament will be the one to confirm who will lead the CMC and who will make up the committee.

This committee will also include divisions for general affairs, planning, research, regulatory supervision, and financial management. It will be given the authority to handle applications for licensing of the three integrated resorts. 

Three Integrated Resorts: Strong Competition 

There is massive competition when it comes to securing licenses for the three integrated resorts (IRs). At least 8 areas in Japan wish to compete for the IRs and want the rights to host these multi-billion dollar facilities as it will provide the host city with a massive economic boost and significantly boost tourist numbers. The 8 interested parties include Tokyo, Nagasaki, Wakayama, Osaka (both prefecture and city), Nagoya, Yokohama, Chiba and Hokkaido. 

Japan has spent a lot of time putting together stringent regulations to ensure that it runs a world class casino operation. The regulations state that operators can only use 3 percent of the overall resort space to build their casino floor. The licensing process works a little different than in other countries. Operators will first have to obtain a casino business license to proceed with constructions and thereafter a facility license to run the IR.

The new regulatory body is also supposed to enforce laws and regulations while monitoring the state of the industry, which includes the prohibition of money laundering.  

Delay In Establishing CMC

The establishment of the CMC has been delayed with no explanation from the government regarding the pushback. The gambling watchdog was supposed to start functioning in July 2019. However, things are finally going in the right direction and the CMC should be up and running by Jan 7, 2020.

The biggest concern for now is that the integrated resorts sites have not yet been selected. The process of shortlisting casino operators to run each of these facilities will only follow after the sites have been shortlisted. These IR’s will take a few years to be developed and hence market analysts predict that these three IRs will only start operating in 2025.