Insight
COVID-19 UPDATE - ASIA Japan
When the public comment period for the Basic Policies ended in October 2019, it was initially expected that the Basic Policies would be adopted in early 2020. However, following a bribery scandal related to IRs in December 2019, the Basic Policies were assumably re-scheduled to be adopted by July 2020. Despite the re-scheduling, the Basic Policies have not yet been finalised or adopted partially because of the outbreak of Covid-19.
Tere is currently significant stagnation in the economic and social activity markets as a result of social distancing or closures. Te unemployment rate is at three per cent with a total of 1.97 million out of work in May 2020. In reality these numbers don’t apparently include the 4.2 million ‘on leave’ which takes the figures to 11.5 per cent.
Japan’s first quarter 2020 GDP levels shrank by 2.2 per cent in January to March and the country has slipped into a recession worse than in 2008. In the fourth quarter of 2019 the economy had already shrank by 7.2 per cent due to last year’s sales tax hikes and the US–China trade war. Te Bank of Japan predicts a 4.7 per cent decline in fiscal 2020.
With around 32 million tourists coming to Japan last year a tourism campaign has now been launched to promote domestic tourism called ‘Go To’ with billions of subsidies to kick start travel to Japan’s regions (excluding Tokyo). Te government says it will pay half the cost of a holiday up to $186 per person per day, of which 70 per cent is a discount on travel and the remaining is paid as coupons redeemable at local businesses.
Meanwhile, all eyes have been on Japan’s future casino industry over the last couple of years. It was predicted that Japan’s casino market could be worth $15bn a year when all three resorts are open, whilst former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe wanted to welcome 40 million visitors by the end of this year to Japan and 60 million visitors by 2030 and believes casinos are the key.
POST-COVID OUTLOOK by Koh Ueda and Shuhei Mikiya at Greenberg Traurig Tokyo Law Offices
Overview of Japan’s casino regulation
Under the Act on Development of Specified Integrated Resort Districts (‘Act”’), the process of obtaining the licence for the development and operation of IRs (including casinos) mainly involves:
P56 NEWSWIRE / INTERACTIVE / MARKET DATA
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