LVS Presents its Vision for Japanese Casino Resort

After Japan’s parliament passed a law to legalize casinos at the end of last year, gambling operators from around the world have been vying for the opportunity to become part of the potentially $25 billion a year industry. One of those companies is the world’s biggest casino operator, Las Vegas Sands Corp (LVS), and this week executives from the firm were in Tokyo trying to drum up support for its bid to obtain an integrated resort license.
Amongst the list of celebrities Sands pulled out at its presentation was former English soccer icon David Beckham, as well as US entertainment executive Irving Azoff, and US singer songwriter Joe Walsh, who both promoted the casino firm’s desire to attract world-class musicians to the venue by building a modern performance venue at the integrated resort.
In total, Sands has said that it would spend around $10 billion building a state-of-the-art casino resort in Japan, which would make it the most expensive of company’s current nine integrated resorts based around the globe, including the $5.6 billion Marina Bay resort in Singapore. Nevertheless, it is important to note that just 3% of Sands’ business is derived from gambling, with the rest coming from its hotel, leisure and commercial facilities.
Over the years, casino operators have shifted the emphasis of their businesses more and more towards such alternative sources of income, which have now come to account for the lion’s share of their business. In addition, offering an all round entertainment product is seen as an important consideration for building up a country’s overall tourist industry.
Nevertheless, many Japanese politicians and members of the public are still not sold on the idea of allowing widespread gambling in the country, with their concerns including a potential uptick in addiction and crime levels in Japan. A Forbes article written by David Suzuki recently will do little to dispel their worries, either, with the author suggesting that casinos will help strengthen criminal groups, such as the Yakuza, who would be able to profit by offering high-interest loans to gamblers, or by infiltrating the casinos themselves.