MGM Osaka Breaks Ground on $8.9 Billion Resort, Japan’s First Casino

Posted on: April 24, 2025, 09:26h. 

Last updated on: April 24, 2025, 09:31h.

Devin O'Connor @CasinoorgDevinO Read More
Expertise: Asia Pacific Gaming, Commercial Gaming, Legislation, Politics.
  • MGM Osaka is officially under construction
  • The nearly $9 billion casino resort in Japan is slated to open in 2030
  • Japan hopes the casino will grow tourism

MGM Osaka in Japan has broken ground more than 20 years after the integrated resort casino was first envisioned by the Las Vegas-based global gaming operator.

MGM Osaka Japan casino gambling
A rendering of MGM Osaka, a nearly $9 billion investment that broke ground in Japan on Thursday, April 24, 2025. The integrated resort casino, Japan’s first, is to open in 2030. (Image: MGM Resorts International)

Company officials and dignitaries gathered Thursday on the artificial manmade island of Yumeshima to formally move the first dirt on what will become one of the world’s largest casino resort destinations. A ¥1.27 trillion (US$8.9 billion) venture led by MGM Resorts International and Orix Corporation, the latter a Japanese financial services conglomerate, construction on Japan’s first casino is expected to take five years to complete.

I’ve been working on this for more than 15 years, and no one is happier than I am to see this happen,” said Ed Bowers, the chief executive officer of MGM Resorts Japan. “It’s not been an easy road, and we will continue to see challenges until and after this opens.”

MGM, which holds a 42.5% stake in the development, believes MGM Osaka will become Asia’s top-grossing casino. The Bellagio operator forecasts that its gaming floor in Japan will generate annual gross gaming revenue (GGR) of roughly $6 billion. Galaxy Macau in the Chinese enclave currently holds that honor with annual casino win of around $4.5 billion.

MGM’s two properties in Macau — MGM Macau and MGM Cotai — generated about $3 billion in GGR last year.

MGM Osaka

MGM Osaka will come with 2,500 hotel guestrooms across three brands — MGM Osaka, MGM Villas, and MUSUBI Hotel. A 3,500-seat theater, 400K square feet of meeting and exhibition space, a spa and fitness center, dozens of restaurants and bars, a shopping mall, a public park, and a dedicated facility promoting tourism throughout Japan are among the many other resort amenities.

The casino, which by law cannot occupy more than 3% of the resort’s total indoor square footage, is expected to offer around 2,000 slot machines and 200 table games, though MGM hasn’t yet specified its gaming floor layout.

Japanese people will need to pay ¥3,000 (US$21) entrance fee to access the casino. Osaka residents will additionally need to pay a “municipal” fee that doubles their gate to $42. The entry levies are designed to protect locals from developing gambling addictions.

Long Road to Osaka

MGM Resorts was among the first casino firms to express interest in expanding to Japan when the country began considering gaming legislation. The late Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was assassinated in 2022, was responsible for urging his controlling Liberal Democratic Party to pass the 2018 gaming bill that authorized up to three casino resorts. Abe said Japan needed to do something to grow tourism and found casinos to be a natural solution.

Japan’s deliberate lawmaking process led to most notable gaming firms, including Las Vegas Sands, Wynn Resorts, and Caesars Entertainment, abandoning their hopes and dreams in the Land of the Rising Sun. MGM, however, remained steadfast.

MGM’s former CEO, Jim Murren, first floated the idea of opening an integrated resort casino in Japan in 2014. Murren maintained that Osaka would be an ideal place for such a development.

MGM Osaka is expected to have a monopoly on casino gambling in Japan when it opens, though there are rumblings in the central government that another bidding period could open in 2026.