Japan will open its first casino in Osaka in the fall of 2030. Japan, the sole Group of Seven member country that has no casinos, has given the go-ahead to the 24-hour operation of an open casino that doesn’t limit the admission of its nationals. It’s the result of 35 years of elaborate public debate.
In 1996, citizens and scholars who had thought that casinos must be nurtured as a healthy amusement industry founded a casino society. Around that time, some local governments emerged, claiming the introduction of casinos was needed for increased tax revenues and regional revitalization.
The “Odaiba casino plan” the then Tokyo governor mentioned as an urban tourism resource in 2001 ignited a campaign for casino legalization. Both governing and opposition parties also moved to enact a law designating casinos as a new amusement industry.
The casino in Osaka is named “Osaka IR.” Casinos were legalized through a law promulgated in 2018, popularly called the “IR (Integrated Resort) Act.” At first, it was a casino law, but after accepting Singapore’s IR model, it was transformed into the casino integrated resort act, IR act including casinos, IR maintenance act and then IR Act.
The purpose of the IR Act is to “utilize the proceeds from the casino business” and “realize the attractive stay-at-home tourism that is internationally competitive.” As most of the proceeds come from the casino business, it is stipulated that strict casino regulations are necessary to attain the purpose of the law.
The Japanese government established the IR Promotion Headquarters, a unit designed to promote countermeasures against gambling addiction and the Casino Regulatory Commission, believing that the casino business must be operated soundly under its proper monitoring and management.
The IR Act stipulates the world’s highest level of regulation. It was the declaration that Japan will build a new “Japanese-style IR” by benchmarking regulations concerning crime prevention, security maintenance, sound development of youth and gambling addiction conducted by leading countries of casinos.
Pre-entry regulations include up to three integrated resorts, casino facilities having less than 3 percent of the resort's total floor area, regulations on ads and a ban on junkets and complimentary items and services. Regulations after entering the casino include three visits for seven days (10 visits for 28 days), identification by ID card, admission fee (6,000 yen, $37, or for a single visit), restriction of admission when requested by family members, prohibition of credit card use when purchasing chips and ban on ATM installation.
The core of those regulations is how to deal with gambling addiction. The financial resources for these measures will come from admission fees and casino taxes (30 percent), which will also be used for tourism promotion, welfare of residents, crime prevention and anti-prostitution measures.
The direction of the IR Act, which envisions creation and operation by the private sector, is different from that of the gambling industry, which envisions creation and operation by the public sector. This means that for the growth and development of the casino industry, casinos must be built and operated by private operators under the management and supervision of the central and local governments.
The innovation of the Korean casino industry begins with a shift to the integrated resort industry policy in terms of future growth. Public perceptions should be altered first, and policymakers and the relevant industry should reflect on themselves. A “casino white paper” is needed to prevent the same mistakes from occurring again.
For the sake of a “Korean-style IR,” a civic meeting of intellectuals should carry out a comprehensive review. At least, it’s necessary to establish an integrated resort promotion headquarters, tourism agency and casino regulatory commission. Now is the time for a future vision and philosophy for the national leader for the Korean casino industry.
____________________________________
The writer, Ph.D., is a researcher of the Institute of Amusement Industry Studies at Osaka University of Commerce.
