MGM to break ground for IR development in Osaka next year

Vegas casino and IR giant MGM Resorts International hopes to complete IR by 2030 amidst delays; the venture is a USD 10-billion complex to be built on an artificial island in Osaka Bay. Construction to start next middle to late next year.

Original story by GGRAsi

Bill Hornbuckle, chief executive and president of the U.S.-based casino operator MGM Resorts International, says the company expects to begin construction of its integrated resort (IR) in Osaka – Japan’s first and, so far, only approved casino property – “by middle to late next year”.

In an interview with the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the MGM Resorts CEO said the group expects to sign the implementation agreement for the casino resort in Osaka in the autumn, and start “on the ground, hopefully, by middle to late next year in terms of pylons and beginning construction.”

“We’re shooting for a 2030 opening,” stated Mr Hornbuckle. The venture has been described as a US$10-billion scheme located on an artificial island called Yumeshima, in Osaka Bay.

Hirofumi Yoshimura, governor of Osaka prefecture, admitted last week that it would be difficult to open the IR in a 2029 time frame previously mentioned.

He added that the time it had taken the national government to approve Osaka’s plans was a factor in delaying the opening.

The IR District Development Plan for Osaka was approved in principle on April 14 by the national authorities, having been submitted to them in April 2022.

Further agreements between the Osaka authorities and their partners – led by MGM Resorts Japan LLC and Orix Corp – on the construction of the planned IR were initially due to be finalized within 90 days of the approval by the central government. But the two sides eventually agreed to extend that deadline.

To learn more insights about MGM’s planned ‘large-scale magnitude gaming project’ in Osaka, read the original story by GGRAsia here https://www.ggrasia.com/osaka-ir-construction-likely-to-begin-in-2024-hornbuckle/