Inside Asian Gaming

IAG JAPAN JAN 2022 38 fact this is a serious issue for citizens.” The petition consists of more than triple the minimum number of signatures required to hold a referendum and is expected to be submitted to the City Council in January 2022. In May 2021 Wakayama Governor Yoshinobu Nisaka suggested that the prefecture may opt against taking part in Japan’s IR selection process should it deemClairvest unlikely to win national approval. NAUGHTY NAGASAKI? On 6 August 2021 Nagasaki selected Casinos Austria International Japan (CAIJ) as its preferred partner and just 24 days later the parties hurriedly signed a basic agreement. The development cost is said to be JPY 350 billion (US$3.2 billion) with plans to attract 8.4 million visitors annually, an extraordinary number which seems impossible to achieve given the extent of historical inbound tourism to Japan and Nagasaki’s reputation of being “too far away” to visit. The operator selection process in Nagasaki was particularly bitter, with rival bidders Oshidori International Development and NIKI Chyau Fwu (Parkview) Group both controversially claiming Nagasaki Prefecture pressured them to withdraw from the process. In August 2021, an Oshidori spokesman speaking directly to IAG said, “The Nagasaki Prefecture has no other option at this point than to lie to cover up its corruption,” while NIKI representatives are on record as saying they “object to this process in its entirety” and that Nagasaki Prefecture “refused to provide any information in what is [a] very troubling process.” The project renderings offered by Oshidori and CAIJ didn’t help to quell suspicions COVER STORY