Proposals For Yokohama IR Submitted By Interesting Set Of Candidates

The submission phase for Yokohama City’s integrated resort casino proposal came to an end on June 11. The second biggest city in Japan is looking for a commercial partner to set up an integrated casino resort.

Yokohama is one of the cities pushing to win one of the three casino licenses that will be granted by the Japanese government. Yokohama will have to shortlist its IR commercial partner and then present its bid to the government.

The process is for an international commercial operator to partner with a local firm and then submit a joint bid for the Yokohama casino project.

Yokohama confirmed a submission from a consortium of private companies.

The group has an interesting composition which has some pretty big names associated with it. The leader of the list is Genting Singapore Ltd, which operates Resorts World Sentosa. There is also Sega Sammy Holdings Inc, an investor in Korea’s Paradise City Casino Resort.

There is no clear indication as of now as to how much each of these casino operators are willing to invest for the proposed IR project. The expected investment is expected to be in billions (USD). There are also reports that Melco Resorts and Entertainment Ltd, has also thrown its hat into the ring and has partnered with Taisei Corp as its construction partner.

Genting Singapore released a statement that they are keen to develop a mega casino resort that would be a world class destination. The casino operator also stated that they would be happy to work closely with the local government to ensure that it fully complies with their proposed regulations. Genting also reassured investors that the money the company would be putting into the project would be less than 100 percent of Genting’s market capitalization.

Analysts from Maybank Investment Bank estimate that if Genting Singapore has a 50 percent stake in the IR, it has the potential to earn more than a billion dollars from the venture if it succeeds.

Yokohama Casino To Open In 2028

Maybank expects the proposed IR casino to open its doors to the public only in 2028. Analysts claim that if the resort does open in 2028, it will be able to generate $6.5 billion yearly in gaming revenue plus an additional $1.9 billion from non-gaming revenues. The IR project will boost tourism numbers in Yokohama, boost the state budget and also provide revenues for multiple small businesses in the city.