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title: Japan Approves Construction of First Casino

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<h1><span style="font-weight: 400;">Japan Approves Construction of First Casino</span></h1>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">This article is more than 10 months old</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Casino facility to be built in Osaka, where the ban was lifted despite concerns about gambling addiction.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Justin McCurry in Tokyo, Japan.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Friday, April 14, 2023 10.27 CEST</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Japan has approved plans to build the country's first casino after decades of debate over concerns about increased tourist spending due to rising gambling addiction. If you're interested in learning more about the specific details of the project, you can </span><a href="https://topcasinosverige.com"><span style="font-weight: 400;">hop over to this site</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> for additional information.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The casino facility, which will include restaurants, stores, and entertainment facilities as part of an "integrated resort," will be built in the western port city of Osaka.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Osaka hopes to complete the project in 2029 at an initial cost of 1.8 billion yen (&pound;10.8 billion). Tetsuo Saito, minister in charge of </span><a href="https://www.reuters.com/markets/asia/japan-approves-osaka-site-countrys-first-casino-2023-04-14/#:~:text=Japan%20on%20Friday%20approved%20a,domestic%20and%20international%20tourist%20spending."><span style="font-weight: 400;">tourism</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> and infrastructure, said Friday that Osaka's bid was approved after "thorough consideration from various perspectives."</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said the complex will promote the development of the greater Osaka area and "become a tourism hub that will show the world what Japan has to offer.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The global casino industry and LDP lawmakers led by Kishida have spent years lobbying for legal reform to allow casinos to be built in </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">casinosclub.at</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">, the world's third-largest economy.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Foreign casino operators have lobbied Japanese authorities for access to a market that could generate huge profits, estimated at $20 billion a year if three casino facilities were built.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Proponents pointed to additional spending from gamblers in Japan and abroad, while critics warned that casinos would add to Japan's already serious gambling problem and become a magnet for organized crime.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Japan was once the only major economy to ban casinos, but in 2016 a bill was passed to legalize the casino industry, and the Diet subsequently enacted a law allowing the construction of integrated resorts.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In a nationwide poll conducted after the law was passed in 2018, 64.8% of respondents opposed the casino construction plan, while 27.6% favored it; in an April Nikkei Sangyo Shimbun poll, 45% of Osaka residents favored hosting the resort, while 38% opposed it.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Osaka complex will be operated by the Japanese subsidiary of MGM Resorts International and financial services company ORIX, along with about 20 local companies, media reports said.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In addition to the casino, the complex to be built on Yumeshima will include a hotel, an international conference center, exhibition facilities, and a theater.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Artist's rendering of the Yumeshima </span><a href="https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Travel-Leisure/Japan-approves-first-casino-hoping-to-create-new-tourism-stream2"><span style="font-weight: 400;">casino project</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">View image in full screen</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Artist's rendering of the Yumeshima casino project.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Osaka Prefecture estimates that the project will have an annual economic impact of 1.14 billion yen and create 15,000 jobs. Up to 20 million people from Japan and abroad are expected to visit the casino each year, generating 520 billion yen in sales, 80% of which will come directly from the casino.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Gambling-addiction support groups said they have "grave concerns" about the project. In an open letter to government officials, they cited a surge in requests for assistance from young people addicted to online gambling.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Japan is a nation of avid gamblers, with public horse racing, speedboat, motorcycle, and keirin bicycle races together worth billions of dollars annually. Pachinko, played in 7,600 parlors nationwide, generated &yen;146.6 billion in sales in 2020, according to the Japan Productivity Center's Leisure White Paper.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">According to a 2021 government survey, 2.8 million people, or about 2.2% of the population, suffer from gambling addiction. To address these concerns, Japanese will have to pay a fee of 6,000 yen for every 24 hours they spend in the casino, and part of the fee will be used to help combat gambling addiction, Osaka officials said.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">There will also be a cap on the number of times Japanese gamblers can enter the casino, and family members can request that their relatives be prohibited from using the casino, Saito said.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Contributions from the agency</span></p>
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