A top spokesman for the Japanese authorities denied on Thursday reports alleging that US President Donald Trump has asked Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe during a February 2017 assembly to “strongly consider” Las Vegas Sands’ bid for a casino license at the newly-regulated Japanese gambling market.
Las Vegas Sands, a Las Vegas-based casino and hospitality giant, is among many key business players to have voiced strong interest in making a foray to Japan today as casino gaming is legal in the country. The business was founded and is being handled by business mogul Sheldon Adelson. Mr. Adelson is among the biggest GOP donors and reportedly poured over $20 million to Mr. Trump’s successful bid to become the 45th President of america.
In a detailed report from earlier this week, non-profit newsroom ProPublica wrote that during a February 2017 assembly between the usa and Japan’s top officials, President Trump raised the casino issue and lobbied for Mr. Adelson and his company to become regarded as the winning bidders for among those gaming permits to be issued from the Japanese authorities.
ProPublica went , citing unnamed sources who were briefed on the matter, that Prime Minster Abe “didn’t actually react ” to Mr. Trump’s acceptance and only thanked for the information.
Yoshihide Suga, Chief Cabinet Secretary of the Japanese authorities, said Thursday that the Prime Minster had previously responded to similar reports and that was all he had to say. Mr. Suga referred to a July 2017 session of the Japanese authorities, during which Prime Minister Abe denied reports that he had been instructed by President Trump to believe strongly Las Vegas Sands as one of the winning bidders to get a gaming license.
Separate Reports about Possible President Trump Lobbying
ProPublica’s detailed article wasn’t the first one created in relation to President Trump’s reported attempt to endorse Mr. Adelson’s Japanese bid. Local business news outlet the Nikkei Asian Review said in a report by June 2017 that during their meeting at President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago retreat, the usa top official congratulated Mr. Abe to the recent passing of a bill that legalized casino gaming and advised him to contemplate Las Vegas Sands and MGM Resorts International.
The Nikkei post went on to reveal that the Japanese group was rather surprised by the class of the conversation and Prime Minister Abe’s aides were instructed to jot down the names of those 2 companies. As stated before, the assembly took place in February 2017, when President Trump was only a month into his tenure.
Japan passed a bill that legalized casino gaming in the country at December 2016. Earlier this year, the Diet passed a separate bill, one that set out the principles and rules under the nation ’s casinos could be operated. Under the bit of law, the authorities will issue three gaming licenses to interested businesses. The casinos will be developed as part of larger integrated resorts.
The business has pictured the construction of a $10-billion integrated resort that would be comparable to its own properties in Las Vegas, Macau, and Singapore.
According to the ProPublica report, a company spokesperson has said that while Las Vegas Sands might indeed be one of the favorites for a few of the three casino licenses in Japan, that has nothing to do with any lobbying from President Trump but with all the company’s experience from the operation of integrated resorts in the Asia-Pacific area .
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