In Japan, the city of Osaka is reportedly set to launch a formal proposal later this week in hopes of capturing one of the three casino licenses being made available following last year’s ratification of the Integrated Resort Implementation Bill.

Powerful pitch:

According to a Tuesday story from GGRAsia citing multiple local media reports, the city of over twelve million inhabitants is due to suggest spending approximately $8.5 billion in order to be given permission to bring an integrated casino resort featuring hotels, shops and conference facilities to 148 acres of land sometime in 2024.

Impressive predictions:

The Osaka plan envisions welcoming some 25 million visits every year with about 23% of these due to be attracted by the prospect of being able to gamble. The official proposal estimates that such a facility would generate yearly aggregated revenues of about $4.33 billion and lead to the city receiving almost $638.49 million in annual economic contributions.

Osaka’s plan for an integrated casino resort was finalized last week following a ninth meeting between city officials and a panel of experts and additionally anticipates generating around $3.44 billion of the venue’s annual revenues from gambling.

Considerable criticism:

However, numerous industry sources have reportedly pointed out that the over 30 casinos in Macau managed to attract just shy of 36 million tourists last year despite being located much closer to the millions of gambling aficionados in mainland China. In addition, these experts purportedly mentioned that the projected budget for the venue would fall short of the likely $10 billion price tag earlier mentioned by multiple United States-based operators.

Optimistic timeline:

Finally, various industry observers have also pointed out that the projected opening date for the planned Osaka enterprise may be overly optimistic. It detailed that November saw an unnamed advisor to the federal government declare that the Asian nation’s first integrated casino resort is not likely to premiere before 2025 while a local consultant for professional services firm Ernst and Young supposedly soon followed up by adding two years to this probable launch date.