In Japan, the Governor for Osaka Prefecture has reportedly suggested that the central government should quicken the licensing process for the nation’s planned trio of giant integrated casino resorts by allowing candidate communities to be designated as ‘planned certification areas.’

Designation to narrow list of candidate cities:

According to a Thursday report from Asia Gaming Brief, Ichiro Matsui believes that the new label would allow municipalities that want one of the three casino developments to speed up the selection process for their preferred operating partner in advance of submitting a final bid to government selectors.

The 54-year-old politician reportedly declared that the officials should dish out the ‘planned certification areas’ brand to areas that had ‘already raised their hands’ for one of the casinos before later narrowing this list down to three winners.

Casino being planned for Yumeshima Island:

Asia Gaming Brief reported that Osaka is hoping to win one of the licenses in order to open an integrated casino resort on Yumeshima Island by 2024. As such, Matsui stated that the city of almost nine million inhabitants is endeavoring to select its preferred operating partner by the end of the year and that his ‘planned certification area’ label would assist it in extracting more serious commitments.

Osaka is set to host World Expo 2025 on a 173-acre portion on the man-made island in Osaka Bay and reportedly wants to use the occasion to help construct an integrated casino resort complete with hotels, galleries, shopping arcades and convention facilities.

Concerns over government lethargy:

However, Matsui is concerned that the government is moving too slow after ratifying the Integrated Resort Implementation Bill late last month and that this could hurt Osaka’s bid for one of the casino developments.

Matsui’s statement reportedly read…

“At this rate it will take them four or five years to select the locations.”