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Mitsui Fudosan Co., Japan’s largest property developer, is seeking approval for an entertainment complex and resort in Tokyo with construction firm Kajima Corp. and Fuji Media Holdings Inc., a government website shows.
The companies have applied to set up an entertainment complex in Tokyo’s Odaiba area, according to the website of the country’s cabinet secretariat.
They have teamed up for a possible casino resort, Reuters reported Nov. 8. Tokyo’s selection to host the 2020 Olympics has boosted speculation the government will open up the market to casinos, and companies including Las Vegas Sands Corp. and Wynn Resorts Ltd. have said they plan to invest in Japan.
A lawmakers’ group plans to submit a bill to parliament as soon as this year to legalize casinos in Asia’s second-largest economy, where gambling such as pachinko and betting on horse, boat and bicycle races is allowed.
Mitsui has put in a plan for a commercial area that includes a hotel, convention centers and shopping area, according to Mitsutoshi Tenda, a company spokesman, who declined to say if it included a proposal for a casino. A Kajima spokesman, who asked not to be named due to company policy, said the company had submitted a plan to develop the Odaiba area.
“We are not the source of information,” a spokeswoman for Fuji Media said by phone in response to questions on the Reuters article, declining to give her name due to company policy.
The Nippon Foundation, a non-profit organization, was also named as part of the group on the government website. It said via e-mail that it was part of the proposal, while declining to say if the details of the plan include casinos.
