Japan delays passing Legal Casino Bill Again – 2020 Olympics Goal in Jeopardy

Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party has chosen to quit pushing the Integrated Resorts casino bill in the current Diet session. This means that the goal of legalizing and building major casino resorts before the 2020 Tokyo Olympics is getting slimmer and slimmer.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has pushed for this bill to pass along with the support of the majority Liberal Democrats. However, a key cog to legalizing casino resorts remains the Buddhist-backed Komeito Party, which wields significant power in the country. Komeito’s big concern with legalizing casinos is that it would have a negative social impact on society.

It was largely believed that Integrated Resorts had a good chance of passing when it was introduced, namely because it would bring in up to $40 billion in annual revenue for Japan. But given that the legislation won’t even be looked at this year, with the current Diet session ending on September 27th, hopes are diminishing on this front.

Besides the Komeito’s opposition, many point to Abe’s political agenda as a reason why he won’t push for Integrated Resorts right now. Namely, Abe wants to handle security bills for the remainder of the Diet session, rather than worry about gambling.

“The casino bill will be handled at a planned extraordinary Diet session,” said a Liberal Party spokesman.”For the current session, we have the security bills.”

Even when there’s a push made for legalizing casinos in 2016, many believe that it will still be a tough battle. The Komeito Party, which is part of the governing coalition along with Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party, has not given up any ground in their opposition to casinos. They continue to say that casino resorts would cause more social problems than good for the country.

However, there are many political and business interests that think Japan needs to legalize brick-and-mortar casinos to capitalize on the 2020 Summer Olympics. There’s already been lots of push from major companies like Las Vegas Sands and MGM Resorts, both of which would like to secure a Japanese casino license.

But given the latest setback, the prospects of passing Integrated Resorts and finishing the casinos before the 2020 Tokyo Olympics seem very limited.

Assuming it doesn’t happen, Japan would still be left with just Pachinko parlors as their main form of legalized gambling. And these are unlikely to draw a lot of foreigners who visit Tokyo for the 2020 Summer Olympics.