Japan’s casino star has dimmed despite early fanfare and seeming threat to Singapore

An artist's impression of what was pitched as the Kyushu-Nagasaki Integrated Resort (IR) project, which has gone up in smoke after the Japanese government on Dec 27 rejected the proposal.

Japan rebuffed the proposal for the so-named Kyushu-Nagasaki integrated resort in December 2023, eight months after giving Osaka the green light.

PHOTO: SASEBO CITY HALL

Walter Sim

TOKYO – Singapore was once dismissed as a “warm-up” for integrated resort (IR) projects in Japan, which had been hailed as the world’s largest untapped IR market with the potential to blow even Macau out of the water.

But Japan has become a damp squib while Thailand, with reported plans to legalise up to five IRs by 2025, is emerging as Singapore’s most immediate threat, even as details remain fuzzy as to what its casino laws would entail.

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