The government has decided to postpone a decision on an outline about standards for certifying casino-featuring integrated resorts that was supposed to be decided at the end of this month, a high-ranking government official said Monday.
The postponement may affect the government-aimed schedule of opening the resorts in the mid-2020s.
Following the arrest of House of Representatives member Tsukasa Akimoto, who was a state minister of the Cabinet Office in charge of casino resort projects, the government deemed it necessary to ascertain Diet deliberations and other moves over the issue.
The outline shows the overall picture of the casino project. Its draft released last September had criteria for accrediting potential bidders of casino projects, including that the establishment of such resorts boosts the number of tourists, resulting in having a beneficial economic effect on regions concerned, and that casino profits help local governments implement their tourism policies.
The bribery scandal revealed inappropriate contact between Akimoto and a company seeking to join casino projects. Therefore, some government officials voiced the necessity to discuss whether to include strict rules regarding contact between businesses and central and local government officials related to the casino resorts.
After the outline is decided, potential host local governments will invite candidate entities and then decide casino resort operators before submitting applications to the Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Minister between Jan. 4, 2021 and July 30, 2021. The government plans to select up to three locations in 2021, but this schedule might also be delayed.
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