Melco sees Japan as the most exciting market

Since the possibility of Japan legalizing gambling became a reality, Melco is one of the companies that showed most determination to have a slice of the lucrative market. As previously announced by Ho, Melco will spend whatever it takes to obtain one of Japan’s casino licenses.

In an interview with Forbes, the executive affirmed that the Japanese market’s philosophy matches perfectly the company’s philosophy "to deliver the coolest, the most innovative and the highest-quality resorts.”

The local government continues to work on the second bill, which will further outline casino-resorts regulations and where the properties will be located. In this regards, Ho said he favors locations near big cities such as Yokohama and Osaka.

"Everywhere we build integrated resorts, our mantra is always to build the coolest thing,” said Ho to Forbes. "And Japan will easily be the coolest; we’ll experiment with the latest in technology, latest in building methods, latest in engineering. But in order to do that, we really have to pick a location that is top tier — near major cities with a huge population and also high potential for tourists.”

The executive also ruled out Tokyo as an option. "We don’t think Tokyo is going to happen. It’s such a fantastic city but it’s a city for government, for financial, it’s less casual when you go to Tokyo. I think the government is thinking of using the integrated resorts as urban revitalization, so I think they’re looking at Yokohama.”