Bloomberg – Japanese lawmakers supporting a bill to legalize casinos said it would be tough to pass the law by next month, a sign that the opportunity to link approval with the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo is diminishing.
“Passing the casino bill in the current session of parliament will be tough,” Sakihito Ozawa, a lower house member, said today at a forum in Tokyo. Japan’s parliament, or Diet, meets until June 22 and the bill must be sent to the upper house at least 20 days before the session ends, he said.
The country’s ruling party and business leaders including Lawson Inc. Chairman Takeshi Niinami have promoted casinos as a tourism-boosting complement to the 2020 Summer Games in Tokyo. The current Diet session offers the last chance for passage of a casino bill in time to have gambling resorts open by then.
“We are doing our utmost to start deliberations on the bill this month,” Takeshi Iwaya, secretary general of the pro-casino group of lawmakers, said today at the Japan Gaming Congress in Tokyo.
