In a major about-face, Caesars Entertainment is marching into Asia again. The largest US gaming operator is joining Wakayama’s bid for one of Japan’s three integrated resort licenses available next year. Caesars’ reentry dramatically changes the Japan IR race that previously lost Caesars, Las Vegas Sands, Wynn Resorts, and Genting Group.
For Caesars, it’s the first land-based international expansion since its US$17.3 billion reverse merger with Eldorado Resorts in 2019. In August 2019, Caesars abandoned its Japan IR effort. Last February, the combined company revealed it disposed of Caesars’ stake in a Korea casino hotel project. Reeg now calls Caesars “proud” to join the Wakayama consortium and looks forward “to creating something special with them for the Kansai region,” in a draft seen by ICE365 of the Caesars announcement released at 5p New York time on Wednesday.
The Kansai region’s strategic importance as Japan’s second-largest region – with a population of 22.8 million – Kansai centers on Osaka, population 2.8 million, where Caesars’ Vegas rival MGM Resorts International and Japanese financial conglomerate Orix seek an IR license. Both cities are roughly 40 minutes by car in opposite directions from Kansai International Airport.
“Having a strong brand would certainly increase credibility and acceptance with the public in second-tier cities,” Dominic Carter, chief executive of consumer research firm The Carter Group, says. Governor Yoshinobu Nisaka insists Osaka’s proximity won’t hurt Wakayama’s licensing bid. Boosters suggest Wakayama and Osaka represent Japan’s only potential casino cluster among current bidders.
Caesars replaces France’s Group Partouche as the casino operator under the specially created Japanese holding company Clairvest Neem Ventures for the ¥470 billion (US$4.21bn/€3.62bn/£3.13bn) project. Clairvest Neem Ventures includes Canadian investment fund Clairvest, esports entrepreneur Mario Ho, and former Las Vegas Sands president and COO William Weidner.
Success in Asia may lift Caesars’ stock market valuation, Strategic Markets Advisors managing director Matthew Landry says, but he adds, “I do not think Caesars needs exposure to Asia in the long run” to prosper. Caesars has “no capital commitment,” the announcement states. A former Caesars executive believes that, after “five years to fix the US portfolio… they will have a ton of capital and then be able to invest or acquire.” That timetable aligns with a potential Wakayama IR opening.
Former US diplomat Muhammad Cohen has covered the casino business in Asia since 2006.
