Nothing is for certain, save for death and taxes. Likewise, anyone who pays a little bit of attention to the stock market knows how fickle the waves can be. Not unlike Lady Luck’s hand at the Blackjack table. Last week, Sega Sammy Holdings Inc. decided it would rather not deal with LL after all.
A memo to shareholders on Sept. 10, announced SEGA was pulling its bid for a casino resort in Yokohama City. Known in Japan as “Integrated Resort Business,” the company had revealed “a request for proposal for the scheduled business operator of the installation and operation of Specified Integrated Resort that will be conducted by Yokohama City by forming a consortium in collaboration with Genting Singapore Limited,” in June 2021. The cost of the venture would have been about $1.09 billion USD.
The dissolution of SEGA’s proposal comes after an announcement by Yokohama City’s new mayor Takeharu Yamanaka’s for an anti-casino city by October 1, 2021. Yamanaka will “take steps necessary to abolish the IR initiatives the city had taken during recent years,” according to an article by GGRAsia’s.
SEGA Sammy Holdings Inc. assured shareholders that their dropped proposal will not impact their bottom line. They expect to see continued rises in sales and the change in operational funds should be minimal. Interestingly, their stock shares continue to rise over 1 percent.
How the loss of further casino businesses opening in Yokohama City could affect their economy is unknown.
