Japanese pachinko innovator Sega Sammy Holdings Incorporated has reportedly announced that it is hoping to acquire a majority stake in one of its nation’s planned integrated casino resorts.

According to a report from the Reuters news service, lawmakers in Japan are expected to award up to three integrated casino resort licenses for disparate areas of the nation in 2019 after passing enabling legislation in late-December and Tokyo-based Sega Sammy Holdings Incorporated has now joined a long list of those wanting to be involved that had already included the likes of Genting Singapore, MGM Resorts International, Hard Rock Cafe International Incorporated and Boyd Gaming Corporation.

“We definitely want to take a bigger stake in Japan; not just the entertainment part but the whole [casino] resort,” Haruki Satomi, President and Chief Operating Officer for Sega Sammy Holdings Incorporated, told the news service on Thursday. “We hope [to take a majority stake]. We are preparing for that.”

Reuters reported that Sega Sammy Holdings Incorporated already holds a 45% stake in the recently-opened Paradise City casino development in South Korea with local firm Paradise Company Limited responsible for the remaining stake while other companies allegedly courting local partners and host cities for one of Japan’s coming gambling venues include Melco Resorts And Entertainment Limited, Galaxy Entertainment Group Limited, Crown Resorts Limited and Las Vegas Sands Corporation.

The news service earlier reported that specific criteria on where the new Japanese integrated casino resorts may be located is currently being crafted by a team of 36 national legislators and is expected to be published by December with the venues possibly welcoming their first players by 2023. Reuters additionally stated that the likeliest option is set to see local authorities required to team up with operators in order to bid for one of the licenses with the cities of Osaka and Yokohama seen as early front-runners for one of the nation’s first western-style gambling establishments, which are to contain casinos, hotels, shops and conference spaces.

Reuters moreover reported that just two casinos in Japan, which has a wealthy population along with a strong tourist appeal, could bring in annual revenues of up to $10 billion while this may rise to as high as $40 billion if more gambling venues are subsequently approved. The island nation attracted a record 24 million tourists last year and the government purportedly sees the coming enterprises as a way to keep these numbers up following the conclusion of the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.