In Japan and the mayor for Osaka has reportedly changed tact by detailing that his city is now amenable to the idea of opening its hoped-for integrated casino resort after the conclusion of its World Expo 2025 extravaganza.

According to a report from Inside Asian Gaming, Ichiro Matsui made the revelation on Friday after previously pushing hard for a start date that would have seen the proposed gambling-friendly facility premiere either before or during the upcoming international exhibition, which is to be staged at specially-constructed venues located on the city’s Yumeshima Island.

Tight timeline:

Inside Asian Gaming reported that World Expo 2025 is set to run for six months from May of 2025 and Matsui had wanted his community’s planned integrated casino resort to open in advance of this date so as to increase revenue opportunities and better exploit multiple synergies. But the federal government is now not purportedly due to pick the winners of the nation’s trio of required casino licenses until the autumn of 2021, which would give Osaka and its partner operator only four years at most to build and test the envisioned $10 billion facility before fully opening it to the public.

Partial prospect:

Despite altering his city’s plans, Matsui nevertheless reportedly explained that he has not entirely given up on the original 2025 start date and is moreover looking at the possibility of debuting only a section of the coming development in time for the start of World Expo 2025.

Matsui reportedly declared…

“We cannot ignore the concerns of operators. We do not need to give up on spring 2025.”

Jury judgment:

Although most gambling is currently illegal in Japan, the coalition government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe passed legislation in July of last year that is to see the nation of some 126 million people offer up a trio of ten-year casino licenses. In order to be chosen as a host for one of these coming giant facilities, which are locally known as integrated casino resorts, communities are being required to partner with an experienced foreign operator before submitting their finished plans to a panel of federal selectors in advance of a July 30, 2021, deadline.

Crowded contest:

Osaka is widely considered to be a frontrunner in this nine-horse race with distinguished firms such as MGM Resorts International, Genting Malaysia Berhad and Galaxy Entertainment Group Limited having already expressed an interest in operating its planned Las Vegas-style facility.