Omura Business Group Pushes New IR Study Plan

A business group in Omura city in Japan’s Nagasaki prefecture is seeking to develop an integrated resort concept, according to reports from Nippon Television and other media outlets. The move places Omura back into the discussion around casino resort development, several years after it was previously mentioned as a possible host site.

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Chamber Plans Study Council

The reports said Hitohisa Nakamura, head of the Omura Chamber of Commerce & Industry, has asked Omura mayor Hiroshi Sonoda to serve as an advisor to a body called the Omura Bay Green IR Feasibility Study Promotion Council. The council is due to be set up in August.

According to the reports, Sonoda accepted the request and said he was interested in moving the discussion forward. The chamber plans to draw up an IR concept for Omura and submit it to the prefecture by the end of the current calendar year.

Timing Linked To Next Application Round

The chamber’s move appears to be tied to the next national government application window for integrated resorts, which is scheduled for 6 May 2027 to 5 November 2027. Media reports said the group is already thinking ahead to that process as it works on its own proposal.

Omura was also discussed in 2024, when a meeting organised by the Omura city branch of the Junior Chamber International expressed interest in the city hosting an IR. Before Sasebo was selected as Nagasaki’s candidate location in the country’s first round of IR applications, Omura had already been mentioned in 2021 as a possible site for a casino resort.

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Local Advantages And Limits

Omura city includes Nagasaki Airport, which sits on an island off Omura Bay, as well as a station on the Nishi Kyushu Shinkansen, part of Japan’s high-speed rail network. Those features have likely kept the city in the frame whenever casino resort possibilities are discussed.

At the same time, the country’s casino liberalisation regime allows only Japanese prefectures and ordinance-level cities to apply to host an IR. That means any future proposal would still need to fit within the national framework before it could move ahead.

Nagasaki’s Earlier Bid

Nagasaki did submit a bid in the first round, but the prefecture was told in December 2023 that its plan had not been accepted. Authorities cited doubts over project financing as the reason for the rejection.

So far, the prefecture has given no public sign that it intends to make another bid. The only successful candidate from Japan’s first round was Osaka prefecture and city, which is building the JPY1.51-trillion, or US$9.49-billion, MGM Osaka with MGM Resorts International and Orix Corp. The resort is due to open in 2030.

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Source: GGR Asia