The resignation shouldn’t impact the development of IRs too much since it is part of Japan’s national policy.
The expected replacement for Abe is chief cabinet secretary Yoshihide Suga, who’s a supporter of IR development, but it’s likely the further talks of IRs might be halted for the time being.
According to the policy, there will be only three IRs in the country. One of the planned IRs would be located in Osaka, but the city’s council recently passed a proposal to split the city into four wards.
The referendum is scheduled later this year and, if approved, the special wards should be established by 2025. An IR in the prefecture should also open its doors in the same year, after the 2025 Osaka/Kansai Expo, but currently, it’s unclear how the plans to divide the city into wards would affect the IR development.
Nagasaki is another prefecture with a proposed IR. Despite the ongoing interest from the possible developers, the local government postponed the request for proposal (RFP) process indefinitely.
The decision was influenced by the ongoing pandemic and travel restrictions. Currently, there are three operators who wish to develop an IR in Nagasaki: Oshidori International Holdings, Casinos Austria and Current Corp.
Yokohama faces difficulties as well, with citizen groups wanting to put an end to the IR project by demanding the resignation of the mayor Fumiko Hayashi. The group aims to gather 490,000 signatures between October and December.
