It's not a free lunch in Japan. Leven tells GGRAsia

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Michael Leven, president and chief operating officer of Las Vegas Sands Corp, told GGRAsia on the sidelines of Clarion Events Ltd's Japan Gaming Congress in Tokyo today that Japan should not be considered a "gold mine" for the game.

"There is no free lunch," Mr. Leven said. "People see Japan as a gold mine," he told us.

"The entry price is high, but the market is very important," he added

Some foreign game operators have said they are willing to invest up to $10 billion in casino resorts in Japan, either with partners or individually. 바카라사이트 추천

Mr Leven previously told a conference session that his employer, Las Vegas Sands, was "lucky" that it didn't need equity from outside, but said he was happy to have a local partner.

"If minority equity represents a certain amount of knowledge and a certain amount of relationship, minority equity will be very, very important," he said at the meeting. "Having minority equity in this type of building is a lot of money. But I don't think anyone would be against it if they could get the help they needed. This is a complex culture, and the more help you can get, the better you can do it."

During the same session, MGM Resorts International Chairman and CEO Jim Muren consulted on the risks of Japan's decision on integrated resorts drifting too long.

"I found that setting a deadline at work is always a good idea, because it creates a focus," he said.

"So having a goal of opening a Japanese [casino] resort by 2020 is an ambitious and achievable goal that is worthwhile if there is a proper focus."

But he added: "That's why we are running out of time to host the 2020 Olympics. It takes more than three years to make something of this scale… 1.5 million sq m of development plus or minus."

Mr. Murren said Japan is currently very short of conference and conference spaces, which are facilities that promote inbound foreign tourism. Japan currently receives about 10 million foreign tourists a year, but it aims to increase it to 20 million by 2020 and 30 million by 2030.

"Japan is ranked 79th in the world in terms of MICE infrastructure," Murren said, adding that Tokyo currently has only about 80,000 square meters of facilities.

He said: "If we're delayed for a few more years, who knows? It's going to be a huge missed opportunity."

Maintaining momentum on this occasion "will generate energy and excitement in the capital markets," Mr. Muren said.

GGRAsia understands from industry sources that it is technically illegal for a Japanese partner to talk in detail about the casino resort plan at this time without the first legislation to legalize casinos.