Now that the House of Councillors election has passed, it is expected that the Casino Management Board candidates will be examined by the National Diet in this autumn’s Extraordinary Session, and that the Board will be formally established in January 2020, about six months later than had been originally envisioned.
This means that the autumn may be filled with political fireworks as the government proposes five individuals to sit on the Casino Management Board. If so, the opposition parties and much of the national media will closely scrutinize the candidates, likely attempting to enflame general public and in an effort to derail the entire project.
The government maintains strong majorities in both houses of the Diet, so the opposition will probably be looking for a failure in the government’s vetting process that allows them to credibly argue that one or more candidate is corrupt, incompetent, or has a significant conflict of interest.
The term of office for each board member is five years. They are most likely to be experts on overseas casino businesses and those with a strong legal background.
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