TLDR
- Sasebo’s business chamber asked the mayor to revive local casino resort plans.
- Japan turned down a 2023 proposal for a resort near Huis Ten Bosch theme park.
- The chamber’s chairman says lessons from the earlier bid could help a new effort.
- The mayor is open to looking at sites beyond the original location.
- Japan’s next application window for casino resorts runs from May to November 2027.
The Sasebo Chamber of Commerce and Industry has asked the city to take another shot at building an integrated resort with a casino. The group sent a written request to Sasebo mayor Daisuke Miyajima on Monday.
Sasebo sits in the northern part of Nagasaki prefecture. Japan’s national government rejected a casino resort proposal for the area in December 2023.
That earlier plan involved land next to the Huis Ten Bosch theme park. National authorities said they had concerns about how the project would be funded.
Chamber Says Earlier Work Still Has Value
Takuya Kaneko, chairman of the Sasebo business chamber, said the group’s stance on the casino resort has not changed. He said the project could help the local economy in Sasebo and the wider northern region of Nagasaki.
Kaneko pointed to knowledge gained during the first attempt. He said this experience could give Sasebo an edge over other cities competing for a resort license.
He called for a plan built around what actually fits Sasebo’s situation. The chamber wants the city to act before the next national application window opens.
Local governments cannot apply to host a casino resort on their own. They must first team up with a casino operator and Japanese private companies.
Mayor Open To New Locations
Mayor Miyajima said the lessons from the 2023 rejection carry weight. He said the city should think about trying again while watching what happens at the national and prefectural level.
He also said Sasebo should look at areas beyond the original Huis Ten Bosch site. That means other spots in the city could be considered this time around.
Neither Sasebo nor the nearby city of Omura can apply directly to national authorities. Only prefectures and certain larger cities hold that right under Japan’s rules.
Any new push from Sasebo would need to move through Nagasaki prefecture first. The city cannot skip that step no matter which site it chooses.
The next application period for local governments runs from May 6, 2027 to November 5, 2027. Cities hoping to host a resort must line up an operator and private partners before then.
This request follows a similar move in Omura, another Nagasaki city. A business group there recently said it would form a study group to look at resort rules and site size.
Japan has approved only one integrated resort so far. MGM Osaka is under construction and is being built by MGM Resorts International with local partners.
That project carries an investment value of 1.51 trillion yen, or about 9.47 billion U.S. dollars. It is expected to open at the end of 2030.
For now, Sasebo has not picked a final site or filed a new application. The city’s next step is reviewing what went wrong last time before the 2027 window opens.
