Calvin Ayre – Much has been made of the enormous potential of Japan’s casino market, including throwing out estimates on how much gross revenue the country’s (future) casinos can earn in a year. Telsey Advisory Group’s Senior Gaming & Lodging Analyst Chris Jones recently issued a 44-page analysis of Japan’s casino potential. Jones estimated that the country could stand to earn as much as $23.8 billion a year, which translates to 0.4 percent of the country’s GDP, roughly what US casinos earn relative to America’s GDP. A far more conservative, if not more likely estimate would be about $16.5 billion…

THE ASAHI SHIMBUN – Moves are accelerating to bring casinos to Japan, but the economic benefits could be overshadowed by the social costs evident in other countries where gambling is legal. Shintaro Ishihara started the trend in 1999, when, as governor of Tokyo, he proposed establishing casinos in the fashionable Odaiba district of the capital. Hokkaido, the prefectures of Chiba, Osaka, Nagasaki and Okinawa, and the cities of Yokohama and Chiba have all earmarked budgets for casino-related studies this fiscal year, according to an Asahi Shimbun survey. A supra-partisan group of lawmakers in December submitted to the Diet a bill…

Reuters – The Japanese city of Osaka plans to invite operators to build a casino on a plot of reclaimed land on Osaka Bay, its governor told Reuters, pipping Tokyo in the race to attract global gaming firms to set up the country’s first gambling resort. Yumeshima, with about 170 hectares (420 acres) of land available for development, is likely to be designated as the preferred site for a casino when Osaka officials meet on April 22 to discuss the issue, Governor Ichiro Matsui said in an interview. Tokyo, the other city most likely to host a casino, has yet…

Japan gaming is ready to climb Mount Fuji. Last week’s award of the 2020 Summer Olympic Games to Tokyo ignited more than the Olympic torch in the Japanese capital. The gaming industry hailed the announcement as the road to legalized casinos in Asia’s largest untapped gaming market. After all, Japan has to find a means to pay for an estimated $1.53 billion in Olympic venues before the world’s athletes descend upon Tokyo. Two large-scale resorts — one each in Tokyo and Osaka — could be worth $10 billion in annual gaming revenues, said Union Gaming Group Principal Grant Govertsen. Those…

From Card Player – MGM Resorts International is in the midst of crucial projects in the United States and Macau, but it’s also reportedly keeping close tabs on any possible pro-gambling legal developments in Japan and Korea. The casino firm is one of the largest in the world, boasting dozens of gambling interests. With regards to Japan; “There’s a growing consensus there that gaming will be expanded, and we plan to participate in that process. I think our operating and development expertise as well as our ability to be good partners are great advantages for us,” MGM CEO Jim Murren…