Pro-casino Governor wins in Wakayama Prefecture

In Japan, yesterday reportedly saw the pro-casino incumbent Governor for Wakayama Prefecture, Yoshinobu Nisaka (pictured), triumph over 80% of the vote so as to secure a fourth consecutive four-year term in office.

According to a report by GGRAsia, Nisaka recently claimed his area should be selected to sponsor one of the country ’s three coming integrated casino resorts despite some resistance from the mayor for Wakayama City, Masahiro Obana. This supposedly prefaced July’s federal ratification of this Integrated Resort Implementation Bill, which would be to require local governments to associate with foreign operators so as to bidding for one of their trio of available permits.

Preferred location:

GGRAsia reported that 68-year-old Nisaka is supporting an around $2.6 billion program that will see a man-made island in Wakaura Bay host the pictured integrated casino hotel. Alongside Western-style gaming, the 98.8-acre Wakayama Marina City growth, which will lie around around 25 miles from Kansai International Airport, could also feature a 538,200 sq feet exhibition center in addition to hotels offering approximately 2,500 rooms.

After Sunday’s ballot saw him garner some 246,303 of the over 307,000 accessible votes to soundly defeat sole opponent Masayoshi Hatanaka, Nisaka announced he will now attempt to describe ‘the positive sides’ to hosting one of the coming integrated casino resorts while still describing the ‘negative results ’ as largely preventable.

Nisaka secured his victory with help from members of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and its own Komeito coalition partner. He expressed his view during the effort that bringing an integrated casino hotel to Wakayama Prefecture will help to revitalize the local economy and increase tourism.

Healthy contest:

But, Wakayama Prefecture is facing stiff competition for one of the coming casino licenses from the giant cities Osaka, Nagasaki and Yokohama in addition to the Tokyo suburb of Chiba City along with the more rural Hokkaido Prefecture.