Recent voter exit polls in Osaka have shown the local resident’s clear support for the prefecture to become home to a proposed integrated casino resort (IR).
According to reports, three out of four exit polls that were held among voters in Osaka in relation to Sunday’s election of the city assembly in the metropolis, and the prefectural assembly’s mayor and Governor, flagged absolute majorities from respondents when it comes to the establishment of an integrated resort featuring a casino there. As revealed by a local correspondent of GGRAsia, a simple majority in favor of a proposed integrated casino resort was also registered in the fourth poll.
In all cases, the prefecture’s voters were asked “What is your opinion on having an integrated resort in Osaka?”, reports say.
As previously reported by CasinoGamesPro, Osaka’s Government plans to develop the gambling resort in partnership with US-based MGM Resorts International and its local private-sector contractor Orix Corp. The IR policy of the prefecture was made an election topic by a number of parties opposing the Japanese Innovation Party, which managed to establish control over the metropolis in Sunday’s elections.
Four Osaka Voter Exit Polls Say Local Residents Back Gambling Expansion
The Yomiuri Shimbun news outlet revealed that its Sunday survey that was held among voters of the Osaka prefecture in relation to the election showed that 57% of the respondents backed the proposed establishment of an integrated casino resort, while 41% of the respondents being against the proposal.
Another survey, held by the Asahi Shimbun found that 53% of the Governor election voters, who took part in the poll, support the proposed IR featuring a casino, while 45% of the respondents were against it. In addition, 55% of the Mayor election voters supported the gambling expansion proposal, while 43% of them were against it.
A survey held by another news outlet – Mainichi Shimbun – found that 53% of voters in the Governor election posted replies in favor of the proposed integrated casino resort, while 45% posted replies against it.
As mentioned above, the fourth, and last survey, held by Jiji Press Ltd, failed to produce an absolute majority in favor of Osaka’s integrated casino report but 43% of the local voters in the City election who took part in the poll indicated their support for the scheme. In contrast, 31% of the survey participants shared their opposition to the project.
Re-Elected Osaka Prefecture’s Governor Confirms Support for Proposed Integrated Casino Resort
According to reports, in the latest elections for the Osaka prefecture assembly, the local Innovation Party managed to win 55 out of the total 88 seats, surpassing its previous result from April 2019, when it won 51 out of the total 88 seats.
The election that took place on April 9th also saw the member of the Innovation Party Hideyuki Yokoyama get elected as Osaka Mayor, with 64.6% of the vote, or about 655,802 votes.
In addition, the head of the Osaka Innovation party, Hirofumi Yoshimura, got re-elected as the Prefecture’s Governor, with a 9.3% increase in his share of the vote in comparison to the result registered during the elections in April 2019. Mr, Yoshimura was now re-elected with 2,439,444 votes representing 73.7% of the overall number of votes, compared to the 2,266,103 votes, or 64.4% of the total in April 2019.
Following his re-election last Sunday, Osaka’s Governor confirmed that he was open to the establishment of an integrated casino resort in 2029. The fate of the IR scheme in the prefecture, along with the one proposed by Nagasaki Prefecture, has been dependent on the Japanese Government since April 2022. At the end of March 2023, the national Government indicated that it did not intend to make any announcement on the issue until after the country’s local elections were finalized.
