TOKYO, Jan. 30, 2020—What has long seemed a sure bet for Sheldon Adelson’s aspiration to win a license to operate in the Japanese-government authorized casinos that are to open by the mid-2020 seem to have become iffy, what with the arrest of prime minister Shinzo Abe’s administration’s lawmaker and parliamentary deliberations zeroing on Abe’s potential engagement with the casino mogul.
On Jan. 29 and 30, 2020, the Abe administration held the first convention on casinos and integrated resort facilities in Yokohama, south of Tokyo. Adelson’s Las Vegas Sands, Wynn Resorts, Genting Singapore, Galaxy Entertainment were among the leading casinos that have signed up. About 40 people opposing the building of large casinos in Yokohama picketed in front of the convention site of Pacifico Yokohama. (https://www.ir-expo.jp/yokohama-ir/)
The convention came days after the Abe government launched the ‘Casino Management Committee’ within the government to work out legislative and regulatory details on licensing, gambling equipment, addiction, casino locations, and do’s and don’ts – and the arrest of a Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker, Tsukasa Akimoto, who was put in charge of the integrated resort project. Akimoto allegedly received bribes from a China company, 500.com, that was aspiring to make bids in a integrated casino.
Now the legislative process seems to have stumbled over the relationships of lawmakers with casino operators, including Abe himself. At a parliament session on Jan. 29, opposition lawmakers questioned the ethical validity of lawmakers’ meetings with casino executives, and Abe replied that his administration would proceed based on impartiality a d transparency.
But his comments are questionable given what he reportedly talked with Trump after Abe’s visit to the U.S. in February 2017. (https://features.propublica.org/trump-inc-podcast/sheldon-adelson-casino-magnate-trump-macau-and-japan/)
Adding to the uncertainty of the casino project is Abe’s scandal – his third major one – over the use of taxpayer money used for inviting his electorate supporters to a official government cherry blossom garden party.
–Toshio Aritake