Japan Casino Bidding Period Will Run May Through November 2027
Posted on: April 1, 2026, 11:52h.
Last updated on: April 1, 2026, 11:52h.
- Japan will reopen bidding for casino licenses in May 2027
- The country can grant two additional gaming concessions
- MGM Osaka is scheduled to open in 2030
Japan authorized up to three integrated resort casinos in 2018. Eight years later, only one development is licensed and underway, but more projects in the coming years could be greenlit to join MGM Osaka.
Last month, the Japanese government authorized, through a Cabinet Order, that a second bidding round for the two remaining gaming concessions commence on May 6, 2027, and run through Nov. 5 of that year. The application period will allow prefectures and cities to solicit bids from interested IR developers and present their tenders to the Japan Tourism Agency for licensure.
This time will be different, the government under Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi claims. Unlike the first bidding round, which ran for years and faced numerous setbacks, leading most bids to withdraw their candidacies, Takaichi’s Cabinet says it will make the market more attractive by keeping the process moving.
The Takaichi Cabinet says the tourism plan “will be steadily implemented.”
Second IR Round
The Cabinet Order, called the “Basic Plan for Promoting Japan as a Tourism Nation,” sets policies and measures for the initiative.
The government will promote necessary measures to develop IRs, which will improve the international competitiveness of Japan’s MICE (meetings, incentives, conventions, exhibitions) business, promote attractive stay-based tourism, and attract inbound visitors to various areas in the country,” the document read. “At the same time, the government is going ahead with countermeasures to address various concerns about casinos.”
Japan’s 2018 gaming law limits the casino floor of an integrated resort to no more than 3% of the destination’s total indoor floor space.
The tourism promotion initiative maintains a goal of attracting 60 million foreigners to Japan by 2030. The target for annual foreigner spending is 15 trillion yen (US$94.5 billion).
In 2025, Japan welcomed 42.7 million international visitors, a nearly 16% increase from 2024. Foreigner spending was approximately ¥9.5 trillion.
Possible Candidates
The prefectures of Hokkaido and Aichi are both moving forward with IR studies to determine if they formally make a play for a casino concession. Aichi is Japan’s fourth-most populous prefecture with 7.5 million people. Hokkaido is eighth with 5.2 million residents.
Aichi’s Nagoya is the fourth most populous city in Japan, with more than 2.3 million residents. Sapporo in Hokkaido is fifth at almost two million people.
Japan will hope that Las Vegas Sands, the world’s largest gaming operator by market capitalization and perhaps the most respected, will return its interest. The company folded on Yokohama in May 2020, with then-Chairman and CEO Sheldon Adelson criticizing the licensing process.
While my positive feelings for Japan are undiminished, and I believe the country would benefit from the business and leisure tourism generated by an integrated resort, the framework around the development of an IR has made our goals there unreachable,” the late Adelson said at the time.
Sands’ exit preempted withdrawals from Wynn Resorts, Galaxy Entertainment, Genting, and Melco Resorts.
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