Japan Teases Second IR Bidding Round, Will Any Casino Bigwigs Bite?
Posted on: December 19, 2025, 08:37h.
Last updated on: December 19, 2025, 08:38h.
- Japan is likely to conduct another bidding round for casino licenses
- Japan has two unissued integrated resort permits that it can grant
Japan authorized as many as three casino developments in 2018. Seven years later, only one integrated resort (IR) has been approved.
Sanae Takaichi, Japan’s first female prime minister, who assumed her powers in October, has been a Shinzo Abe loyalist throughout her career in politics. A staunch supporter of Abenomics, policies implemented by the late Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) leader during his eight-year premiership that ran from 2012 to 2020, Takaichi has committed to further promoting the development of IRs to better realize tax revenue and economic benefits from both foreign and domestic tourism.
Abe, who was assassinated in 2022, was responsible for the 2018 casino bill. The celebrated PM thought casino resorts could help Japan become a more attractive destination for leisure tourism in Asia and a more exciting place for large-scale conventions and exhibitions.
Second Bidding Round
Japan’s lengthy rulemaking process resulted in most casino companies folding on their pursuits in the Land of the Rising Sun. Companies like Las Vegas Sands, Wynn Resorts, Hard Rock, Melco Resorts, Genting, and Caesars Entertainment all grew frustrated with Japan’s deliberate bidding progression, which was exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and ultimately led to those firms exiting.
Once considered the greatest market opportunity since China’s Macau, Japan ultimately fielded just two bids. MGM Resorts won the right to develop a multibillion-dollar IR in Osaka with local partner Orix Corporation. The Japanese government rejected a bid in Nagasaki from Casinos Austria on funding concerns.
GGRAsia, an online media outlet covering casino news across Asia, reports that Japan recently initiated a public comment period that runs through Jan. 16, 2026. The public input request is to gauge the Japanese people’s enthusiasm for greenlighting additional casinos.
The Japan Tourism Agency is scheduled to formally open the second IR bidding round on May 6, 2027. Casinos and their prefecture partners will be able to present development proposals through Nov. 5, 2027.
The Japan Tourism Agency is a unit of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism, which is responsible for one-third of all the laws in Japan and is the largest ministry in terms of employees.
Nagasaki Redo
Nagasaki and Hokkaido are reportedly two prefectures interested in the second IR bidding development. Japan’s casino bill only allows IRs to be authorized in prefectures and cities that want gaming.
MGM Osaka is set to open in 2030. The $8.9 billion investment is redeveloping the man-made island of Yumeshima into an entertainment and hospitality paradise with 2,500 hotel rooms, a 3,500-seat theater, 400K square feet of meeting and convention space, dozens of restaurants and bars, a shopping mall, and a public park.
MGM hasn’t detailed how many slot machines and table games the Osaka casino will have. By law, the casino cannot occupy more than 3% of the resort’s total indoor space.
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