With Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe resigning, the casino industry of Japan has been surrounded with an air of uncertainty.
Abe, who announced his resignation this Friday, has been a supporter of casino industries and had included its integration with resorts as one of his economic plans. Abe, who has been suffering long with an inflammatory bowel disease, resigned due to his deteriorating health conditions.
His economic policies were much admired and were known as ‘Abenomics’. Abe’s plan to integrate casinos with resorts has always been his agenda in furtherance of which he got Japans’ Parliament, Diet, to pass a bill. The Bill was related to legalization of casinos and was passed back in the year 2016. However, regulatory delays could not lead to materialization of the plan.
Abe still had one more year of his Prime Minister-ship left and his resignation comes as a shock to casino industry as its fate now hangs in the balance.
The 65 year old outgoing Prime Minister said “I would like to sincerely apologize to the people of Japan for leaving my post with one year left in my term of office, and amid the coronavirus woes, while various policies are still in the process of being implemented”.
Niall Murray, chairman of a gaming and hospitality industry consultancy firm and a former Las Vegas and Macau casino executive stated that “without Abe at the helm, it might prove difficult to find a leader with the same determination, conviction, and ability to take the steps necessary to bring the Japanese IR industry dream to life”.