MGM and local partner Orix chosen to open Osaka’s integrated resort

Site rendering by MGM Resorts International and ORIX Corporation.

2021-09-28

Japan

Reading time 1:29 min

MGM Resorts and Orix Corporation, the sole bidders in the final RFP process, were awarded the rights by the Osaka prefectural government and city government to operate a casino-center IR. Both firms will be equal partners in the consortium with about 40% ownership each. The remaining 20% will be taken up by a wide range of smaller partners. See rendering gallery.

On Tuesday, Hirofumi Yoshimura, governor of Osaka Prefecture, announced in a news conference that the Osaka prefectural government and Osaka city government granted MGM Resorts Internation and Orix Corporation the right to operate a casino-centered integrated resort on a man-made island in Osaka Bay, Yuhemina island.

The approval of the USD 9.1 billion bid was widely anticipated because no other consortium opted to challenge MGM-Orix in the final Request for Proposal round.

According to a summary of the consortium’s plan that the governments released, the proposed resort will have a casino, a conference facility with a maximum capacity of more than 6,000 people, a facility with a 20,000-square-meter exhibition space, and an accommodation facility with 2,500 rooms.

The proposal expects to create about 15,000 new jobs, receive about 20.5 million visitors annually, of which 14 million will be domestic visitors, while 6.5 million will come from abroad. The resort is expected to produce yearly revenues of about USD$4.9 billion.

Bill Hornbuckle, president, and CEO of MGM Resorts International, stated: “Osaka Prefecture and Osaka City have implemented a comprehensive and well-considered selection process to achieve the goal of developing a world-class Integrated Resort in Osaka, and I am honored that we have been selected as the partner for Osaka. No other place has a brighter and more enjoyable future for tourism and hospitality than Japan, and Osaka is a good place to launch that future.”

MGM and Orix will be equal partners in the consortium with about 40% ownership each. The remaining 20% will likely be taken up by a wide range of smaller partners.

All three of the candidate prefectures, Osaka, Wakayama, and Nagasaki, have now selected their IR consortium partners. The next step is the joint applications to the national government for licensing, reports Akihabara News.