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Osaka lobbies for changes in casino regulation


The Osaka prefectural and city governments used the public hearing held on Friday to lobby for business-friendly changes to casino regulation found in the proposed central government plan.

Osaka, which is aggressively pushing to host an IR at its Yumeshima location, hopes that its opinions will be better reflected in the forthcoming IR Implementation Bill.

The Osaka government expressed concerns about limits on casino floor size, arguing that if the central government mandates too strict an upper limit, this could have a serious negative impact on the ability to attract top-level investment from private companies.

The local authorities in Osaka are also unhappy with some of the restrictions on casino entry that are contemplated in the Experts’ Committee report, which was delivered to the central government on August 1.

Limits on the number of times individuals can enter casinos, Osaka contends, should not be applied universally to all Japan residents, but rather be limited to those who are at high risk of gambling addiction.

Furthermore, the requirement that residents must use their MyNumber Cards to enter a casino was criticized as being “unrealistic” in light of the fact that the unpopular MyNumber system has not yet been fully accepted by the Japanese public.

Nine public hearings are being held across the country this month. The event in Osaka on August 18 was the second of these hearings.

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