Currently, the deadline for initial screening is set for 28 January.
There are several major contenders for the upcoming IR, including Casinos Austria, Oshidori International, Pixel Companyz, and a consortium involving Current Corporation, Get Nice Holdings, and Sofitel Ponte 16. Three more companies are expected to bid for the IR as well, but they are unnamed at this time.
If the schedule doesn’t change, the operator consortium partner will be selected sometime in summer or autumn. That should also be the deadline to sign a basic agreement.
Final approval by Nagasaki prefectural authorities and Sasebo City council should be given in spring 2022 and the application for licencing will then be sent to the central government.
The construction (if the licence is approved) could begin in 2023 and the venue might open its doors in the second half of the decade. However, this schedule is tentative, and the prefecture’s government added “timing depends on the national timeline and operator plans.”
A special committee was formed to help select a suitable operator. The committee will review and evaluate the contending operators and the deadline for accepting preliminary screening documents is set for 1 March and final results should be available in August.
