In Japan and the government for Nagasaki Prefecture has reportedly announced that it will be launching the request for proposal (RFP) stage of its effort to secure one of the nation’s coming trio of integrated casino resort licenses from January 7.

According to a Sunday report from Inside Asian Gaming, the southern jurisdiction unveiled the start date via an official Christmas Day press conference as it continues with an effort to bring a Las Vegas-style development complete with a casino to a 74-acre plot of land next to the Huis Ten Bosch theme park. The source explained that the Kyushu province moreover remains eager to have selected a prospective operator for the envisioned gambling-friendly scheme by next winter in advance of formally submitting its completed license application to federal selectors well in advance of a final July of 2022 deadline.

Economic expectations:

The Governor for Nagasaki Prefecture, Hodo Nakamura, reportedly used the press conference to detail that his administration decided to launch the RFP leg of its casino plan as soon as the final tenets of the country’s ‘Basic Policy’ criteria document were published. The 70-year-old purportedly also asserted that securing a license to build and run an integrated casino resort would allow his province to begin operations from as early as the end of this decade in hopes of boosting its economy through increased tourism.

Reportedly read a statement from Nakamura…

“We will continue to devote our efforts to the realization of a Kyushu-Nagasaki integrated casino resort, which can contribute to the revitalization of tourism and the local economy of Kyushu as well as Nagasaki Prefecture and to the development of Japan.”

Resolute rivals:

However, Nagasaki Prefecture is reportedly set to face stiff competition for one of the three licenses with the communities of Osaka, Yokohama and Wakayama Prefecture having already embarked on their own RFP journeys. Nevertheless, four entities including European gambling giants Casinos Austria International and Groupe Partouche are purportedly already known to be interested in winning the right to operate the jurisdiction’s envisioned integrated casino resort.