Two major gaming firms, Las Vegas Sands Corp and MGM Resorts International are searching for sites to build casinos in Japan. This comes after Tokyo was selected as hosts for the 2020 Summer Olympics.

One of the major hurdles though is the need for the passage of a law to legalize gambling resorts in Japan. The recent decision of the International Olympic Committee had given fuel to the lobby seeking the approval of casino gambling in the country. It is seen that the development would add hotel rooms and entertainment venues which can be utilized for the Summer games. The additional jobs and generate USD10 billion in sales to help the economy in the long run.

Other parties have also become interested and these include Caesars Entertainment Corp and Melco Crown Entertainment. The new push for the establishment of casino gambling comes two years after legislation to generate revenues for the rebuilding efforts post 2011 tsunami was passed.

There is a number of local partners are companies such as Mitsui & Co, Itochu Corp, Mitsubishi Corp as well as game machine manufacturers such as Sega Sammy Holdings Inc and Konami Corp.