Japan: changing markets
David Bonnet Managing Partner, Delta State Holdings Ltd
David Bonnet is Managing Partner at Delta State Holdings Ltd based in Hong Kong where he provides corporate finance consulting services for leading institutional investors in the emerging markets hospitality and gaming space. He has previously worked in senior strategy and finance positions with companies such as Bloomberg LP, Sands China and Galaxy Entertainment amongst others.
He is a frequent commentator on Bloomberg TV and CNBC and has written numerous articles on Asian regional gaming for major worldwide publications including Bloomberg News and Asia Times.
David has held positions with Allston Trading at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange; investment banking firms Banc of America Securities, Robertson Stephens in San Francisco and Blackpoint Capital Advisors in Honolulu.
As international operators look to Asia to predict the course of change in their own post-Covid markets, G3 interviews Asia expert, David Bonnet, about current influencing factors
Could you tell us more about how and under what conditions licences will be granted in Japan?
Te Japanese government is in the process of formulating their detailed casino regulations and we expect these to be released some time this year. Tis should provide a bit more clarity on certain information necessary to proceed with an application for casino licenses that will be made over the next eighteen months. Applicants should have a clear financing plan as part of their overall business proposal and it would be helpful if a large Japanese company was part of the relevant consortium.
Tere will initially be three licenses granted for companies / consortiums that have a detailed business and financing plans and have already
received pre-approval from local regional governments to proceed on an integrated resort / casino development. Te licenses will be respective to individual regions meaning that you won’t be able to have two IR developments in Tokyo. But you could have one in Tokyo and one in nearby Yokohama so the Japanese government is taking a more diversified geographical approach to the idea for casino gaming rather than adopting a critical mass approach found in Macau with six gaming operators.
Coordination with local governments and their related constituencies are critical components of any successful license application. We also expect the applicants to have very detailed responsible gaming and community support programs as part of their overall business/development plan.
Las Vegas Sands has said that it will no longer pursue a licence for one of three Integrated Resorts in Japan with CEO Sheldon Adelson saying his goals were ‘unreachable.’ What have been some of the main issues with the issuing of licences? Why are operators pulling out of the process?
Te size and scale of what the Japanese government requires for an approved IR development makes the planning, design,
P44 NEWSWIRE / INTERACTIVE / MARKET DATA
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