Japan presses MGM Osaka to sharpen forecasts and non-gaming plan

Japan's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism has again asked MGM Osaka to refine its visitor forecasts and set out a firmer investment plan for non-gaming activities, according to a fiscal 2025 assessment published by the Japan Tourism Agency on 9 October. The ministry said the project still meets the required standards, detailed designs have been completed and construction has started.

In its fiscal 2025 assessment, the ministry renewed its earlier request that Osaka strengthen how demand is modelled, communicate more clearly with overseas audiences and commit to a more definite schedule for spending gaming revenue on other activities. According to the ministry, the work completed to date consisted only of verifying that the assumptions underpinning the projections still held, not of making major revisions. Osaka is being asked to sharpen the figures through finer customer categories, business travellers among them, and to revise assumptions promptly when market conditions shift. The assessment further encouraged stronger promotional efforts aimed at drawing visitors from abroad.

Nothing in the newest assessment shifts when the resort is due to open. MGM Osaka is still expected to begin operating in 2030, and the review examined how the already-approved plan is being carried out, not whether to grant new approval. Building work got under way in spring of last year.

A 42-hectare site next to the planned MGM Osaka resort now carries a floor price set by Osaka city. The step points toward proceeding with a second round of land sales, which may influence how the broader Yumeshima area takes shape.