Japan’s second-biggest city, Yokohama, has officially withdrawn its entreat to legion a casino resort. The metropolis was one time a prominent favourite to be chosen as a location for ane of triplet structured resorts below governance legislation passed inward 2018 to legitimize gambling casino gaming inward Japan.
But the composition has been on the surround for Yokohama since the surprisal election of its new mayor, Dr. Takeharu Yamanaka, who opposed the gambling casino process.
The information scientist and former Yokohama City University prof has no more prior political experience. But his put to work on analyzing vaccine efficacy on coronavirus variants is what sold him to voters, suggesting that casinos are non richly on the lean for a world prioritizing safety during the pandemic.
Public Never Sold
The the true is, the public was ne'er on board. Casino legalisation has long been a pet throw of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), which believes structured resorts will encouragement tourism and bring home the bacon economical stimulus. But the public has ne'er been convinced, especially inward Yokohama.
A Sept 2018 poll commissioned by the municipal regime found that a staggering 94 percent of Yokohama residents said they had disconfirming viewpoints on allowing an integrated casino resort to follow reinforced inward the city. Most cited an growth inward job gaming as their major concern.
Meanwhile, approval ratings of the casino-backing LDP experience plunged o'er regime failure to control the pandemic. Last week, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga proclaimed he would not seek re-election after just now a year inwards office.
Japan has endured III states of exigency and quaternary waves of the pandemic, and many of the country’s big cities remain below a tell of emergency.
Process Stalled by COVID
Former mayor Fumiko Hayashi declared Yokohama’s interestingness inward an integrated resort hotel in 2019. But her continued supporting of the cassino propose contributed to her ruination at the recent election.
The new city manager said at his number 1 insurance policy spoken communication at a local gathering Friday that the city administration would right away hold the ongoing mental process of summons for the integrated resort hotel “in response to the voices of citizens opposed to the integrated resort hotel project.”
The unconscious process itself has been halted because of the coronavirus pandemic, but the administration has said it plans to break up the trinity locations between Oct and April next year.
Now that Yokohama is come out of the picture, just 3 prospective hosts remain inwards the metropolis of Osaka and Osaka Prefecture, Wakayama Prefecture, and Nagasaki Prefecture. Each has teamed upwards with an international gambling casino manipulator on their respective bids.