Japan held the latest edition of its quadrennial local elections on Sunday and the exercise reportedly resulted in pro-casino candidates doing well in the northern city of Tomakomai as well as in the southern community of Sasebo.

Tomakomai triumph:

According to a Monday report from GGRAsia, January saw an official government advisory panel identify Tomakomai as a preferred site for one of the nation’s three coming integrated casino resorts. The Hokkaido port city has now improved these chances after the weekend elections saw members from a loose coalition of politicians colloquially referred to as the ‘integrated resort promotion group’ gain seats on its local council.

Closer cooperation:

GGRAsia reported that Tomakomai is expected to be among those to lodge an official bid with the federal government for the right to host one of the coming gambling facilities. As such, the new make-up of its city council should allow the community of about 175,000 people to better cooperate with potential operating partners and pro-casino politicians from numerous parties.

Sesebo selection:

In Sasebo, which is a city of some 252,000 inhabitants located in Nagasaki Prefecture, incumbent pro-casino mayor Nori Tomonaga reportedly took 78.2% of the weekend’s vote to win another four-year term in office. The independent politician received support from the Liberal Democratic Party of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe as well as its coalition Komeito partner and is now expected to persevere with efforts to bring an integrated casino resort to his community.

Theme park arrangement:

Sasebo is already home to the Huis Ten Bosch theme park and partnered with Nagasaki Prefecture two weeks ago to ink a deal that could eventually lead to this Dutch-themed attraction playing host to one of Japan’s coming trio of integrated casino resorts. This arrangement purportedly came after the city had signed an alliance with an external marketing company that is designed to help it attract commercial partners for such a development.