After considering shareholders' opinion, Genting Singapore confirmed Tuesday that it will no longer be participating in the competition for a planned Osaka integrated resort (IR) in Japan.
"After careful consideration of the opinions of many shareholders, we regret that we will not continue our participation in the Osaka IR project going forward."
"In the future, Genting Singapore will focus on participating in the Yokohama IR request for concept (RFC), which is currently underway," Genting Singapore said in a statement, the Edge Markets reports.
Japan is planning to approve the construction of integrated resorts to boost tourism after the Tokyo Olympics end in August. The government has authorized licenses for three resorts and is expected to receive official bids next year from regions vying to build the facilities, potentially including Japan's three largest cities, Tokyo, Yokohama, and Osaka.
The local government announced Friday that the MGM-Orix consortium has been named as the 'lead bidder' for the integrated casino complex in Osaka.
Osaka hopes to make a final decision on which bidder will win the project in June, the Nikkei newspaper said.
A bribery scandal that saw the arrest last December of a ruling-party lawmaker previously overseeing casino policy has increased public opposition to the government's plan to allow casinos in Japan. Last month, four major opposition parties introduced a bill to scrap laws on casino resorts to the National Diet as it convened to begin a 150-day regular session. The Japanese government was said to be considering delaying the process for selecting casino host cities.