Japan may amend casino bill to ban locals

Japan may amend a hotly anticipated bill to legalize casinos to ban locals from gambling, at least initially, Japanese media reported.
A league of Diet members working to promote the establishment of integrated resorts in Japan agreed on the revisions at a meeting on Tuesday and are scheduled to make an official decision on the matter in a meeting next Thursday, the reports said.
The aim of the amended version of the bill was to gain support of two minority parties. The parties are the centre-right New Komeito, backed by an influential Buddhist social movement, the Soka Gakkai, and the centrist Democratic Party of Japan.
Lawmakers have expressed concern about the impact of legalizing casinos on problem gambling in the country.
Barring locals would place Japan in a similar position South Korea and Vietnam, while Singapore has opted to charge locals an entrance fee.
International investors including MGM Resorts International and Las Vegas Sands Corp, have said they are willing to put up to $10 billion per casino resort in Japan, which is seen as having the potential to be one of the world’s top gambling markets.
However, restrictions on local access may cause investors to scale back their plans considerably.
Analysts say if locals are to be excluded from the Japan market, it may be extremely difficult for investors to justify the investment on the basis of annual returns on capital that had looked for figures close to 20 percent .
The league aims to pass the revised bill to create a law legalizing casinos in Japan during the current Diet session. It’s not yet clear when the decision to bar locals would be revisited.
According to reports, the revised bill contains a clause that states that another bill would need to be enacted to permit Japanese into casinos.