Bloomberg – Dutch-themed amusement park along Japan’s southwestern coast is considering buying a deserted offshore island in an expansion to boost its appeal as a possible site for a casino resort.
“We are planning to buy new land to offer more games at the Huis Ten Bosch theme park,” Hideo Sawada, chairman of the Tokyo-based travel agency and park operator, said in an interview April 18. “There are a lot of deserted islands nearby.” He said at least 100 billion yen ($974 million) is needed to fund a gambling resort at the park.
Huis Ten Bosch and sites across Japan are preparing to compete for possible gambling resort developments before the nation ends a ban on casinos, with preliminary legislation expected to pass in coming months. Global operators from Las Vegas Sands Corp. to Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd. have said they are prepared to invest billions of dollars should they win permits for casinos in the world’s third-largest economy.
Japan’s casino market could eventually generate $40 billion in annual revenue, trailing only China’s Macau as a gambling hub, CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets estimates.
Adding a casino could double sales at H.I.S., while the effect on profit would depend on how much the company invests, Sawada said. Revenue jumped to 480 billion yen, the highest since at least 1994, in the year ended October and is expected to climb 12 percent to 536 billion yen this fiscal year, according to the average of seven analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg.
