As Japan Mulls Second Casino Bidding Round, Prefectures Study IR Feasibility
Posted on: March 9, 2026, 10:33h.
Last updated on: March 9, 2026, 10:33h.
- Japan is expected to reopen bidding for casinos
- Several prefectures are studying whether to enter the casino pool
It appears that Japan will conduct a second bidding round for the two remaining casino licenses. Whether that happens in 2026 or in the future isn’t known. But as the central government inches closer to reopening the request for integrated resort (IR) proposals, some prefectures are assessing whether they wish to participate.
Japan’s 2018 Integrated Resort Development Act authorized as many as three large-scale, mixed-use IR schemes with hotels, gaming, convention facilities, and family-friendly attractions. The bill, championed by the late Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his controlling Liberal Democratic Party, was designed to promote tourism in the country that’s best known for being a global business mecca.
Almost a decade later, only one of the three IR licenses has been granted. MGM Resorts and Orix Corporation, a financial services conglomerate headquartered in Japan, are under construction of the more than $8 billion MGM Osaka on Yumeshima Island.
Prefectures Studying IRs
The 2018 law says that casinos can only present the Japanese government with IR projects in prefectures that wish to house such a development. Ahead of a presumed second bidding round, several regions are embarking on IR feasibility studies.
Hokkaido and Aichi prefectures have both allocated budget money for such reviews. Hokkaido has set aside about JPY10 million (US$63,100), while Aichi has allocated considerably more funds at JPY277 million (US$1.75 million).
Aichi is Japan’s fourth-most populous prefecture with about 7.5 million people. Hokkaido is eighth with about 5.2 million residents.
Aichi’s Nagoya, with 2.3 million people, and Hokkaido’s Sapporo, with about 2 million people, would both be attractive IR sites. Nagoya and Sapporo are both served by major international airports in Chubu Centrair International and New Chitose.
Nagoya is just a short flight from South Korea. Sapporo could cater to Eastern China and Russia’s Far East.
Will Casinos Bet on Japan?
When Japan legalized casinos in 2018, the country had the attention of nearly every major global gaming company. Aside from MGM, companies that prepped bids included Las Vegas Sands, Wynn Resorts, Caesars Entertainment, Melco Resorts, Mohegan, and Hard Rock International.
However, Japan’s lengthy rulemaking process, paired with the COVID-19 pandemic, resulted in most companies pulling their interest. In the end, MGM and Orix were one of only two qualified bids. The other, a bid from Casinos Austria in Nagasaki’s Sasebo near the Huis Ten Bosch theme park, was rejected on funding concerns.
To date, only US-based Bally’s Corporation has publicly expressed interest in assembling a casino presentation should Japan reopen bidding for the two remaining gaming concessions.
As for MGM’s Osaka destination, the IR will have 2,500 hotel rooms, a 3,500-seat theater, 400K square feet of convention facilities, dozens of restaurants and bars, a shopping mall, and a public park. The casino is limited to being no more than 3% of the resort’s total floor space.
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