Yokohama city concluded on last Friday that its request-for-proposal submission period regarding commercial partners for its tilt at getting a casino complex or integrated resort, as they are known in that country.

The city confirmed a submission from an already qualified consortium featuring Genting Singapore and Sega Sammy Holdings Inc, a Japanese entertainment conglomerate that is an investor in the Paradise City casino resort at South Korea.

Japanese entertainment conglomerate Sega Sammy says it plans to spend around US$ 1.09 billion towards the cost of casino resort it wants to create in Yokohama, as part of a consortium including Genting Singapore.

Such spending would be “on a cumulative basis up to business start date,” which Sega Sammy assumes would be in the “late 2020s”.

The Japanese group is already a partner in the Paradise City casino resort at Incheon, South Korea, and produces casino electronic games as well as running an extensive pachinko business in its home market.

A recent note from Maybank Investment Bank used a potential 50% investment from Genting Singapore in a Yokohama project as the basis for projections on future earnings from such a scheme.

Sega Sammy said in last Friday announcement: “We assume that the consortium will become the main entity, but the details are undecided.”

The group further noted that the amount it would spend on Yokohama might “fluctuate depending on the ratio of borrowings from financial institutions and other factors in the future”

It added: “Even if the maximum expenditure is made, we expect that this business will not be included in the scope of consolidation of the company.”

Editing by Rachel Hu