American casino operator Caesars Entertainment Incorporated has announced that it has joined the consortium looking to win permission to bring a Las Vegas-style development to Japan’s Wakayama Prefecture.

The Las Vegas-headquartered firm used an official Wednesday press release to detail that the syndicate is headed by the Clairvest Neem Ventures Company Limited subsidiary of Canadian investments specialist Clairvest Group Incorporated and additionally contains French casino operating giant Groupe Partouche and local management specialist AMSE Resorts Japan Company Limited.

Earlier exit:

The move comes after Caesars Entertainment Corporation, which was the Nevada firm’s predecessor prior to its $17.3 billion merger with Eldorado Resorts Incorporated, pulled out of the race for one of the coming Japanese casino licenses in 2019 citing cost concerns. However, the new-look company stated that the fresh alliance comes ‘with no capital commitment’ and is part of a larger effort ‘to develop what will be the next major global integrated resort destination.’

Looming limit:

Although most forms of gambling are currently illegal in Japan, the coalition government of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe passed legislation in July of 2018 that is to see the nation of some 126 million inhabitants license a trio of integrated casino resorts featuring hotels, exhibition facilities and large gaming floors. To be in with a chance of hosting one of these developments and locales are first being obliged to select a foreign firm to run their proposed gambling-friendly venue in advance of submitting their completed license applications to a panel of federal selectors before the conclusion of an April 28 deadline.

Optimistic opportunity:

Wakayama Prefecture, which is home to approximately 945,000 people, designated the Clairvest-headed joint venture as its own ‘preferred operating partner’ in June and is now eager to be given official approval to bring such a multi-billion-dollar development to a 50.7-acre plot of privately-owned land on its Marina City artificial island. The southern Honshu community earlier disclosed that it is hoping the deep pockets and experience of the consortium will help it to see off competition from several other jurisdictions including the likes of Nagasaki Prefecture and the city of Osaka and secure one of the 30-year integrated casino resort licenses.

Destination delight:

Tom Reeg serves as the Chief Executive Officer for Caesars Entertainment Incorporated and he proclaimed that his company is ‘proud’ to have partnered with Clairvest Neem Ventures Company Limited in order to bring its own ‘iconic brand’ to Japan.

Read a statement from Reeg…

“We believe our experience blends perfectly with Clairvest Neem Ventures Company Limited’s and look forward to creating something special with it for the Kansai region.”