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The story
The Integrated Resort (IR) planned for Osaka’s Yumeshima, aiming to open around autumn 2030, faces a challenge in securing “dealers” to run its casino games. Japan Casino School, which partners with operator MGM Osaka, is launching officially certified courses in Tokyo and Osaka, aiming to train 2,000 of the up to 3,000 dealers needed by opening day. Osaka Prefecture projects the IR’s overall economic ripple effect at ¥1.14 trillion a year, with casino operations accounting for 80% of total revenue. On 5ch, while top dealers overseas are said to earn upward of ¥10 million a year, posters weighed in on domestic pay, the language skills required, and the risks of the job.
The Integrated Resort (IR), including a casino, planned to open in Osaka City around autumn 2030, looks set to face a challenge in securing dealers to run its games.
Japan Casino School, a private institution that trains dealers, is partnering with IR operator MGM Osaka to launch certified courses in Tokyo and Osaka. The goal is to train 2,000 of the roughly 3,000 dealers expected to be needed by the IR’s opening, but whether enough students can be recruited remains the key question.
The IR will be built on Yumeshima, a man-made island within the city. Osaka Prefecture projects an annual economic ripple effect of ¥1.14 trillion, with casino operations expected to generate 80% of the facility’s overall revenue. Realizing that effect will require securing staff — dealers and other related service workers — and building out the systems to support them.
Source: sankei.com / Original article here
What people said
Daytime sightseeing, nighttime eating and drinking — who's got time left for the casino lol
Guess that's how a broke trip looks for someone like you who's never set foot in a casino
You've clearly never been to a country that actually has casinos
If you want the thrill of real-life betting, sports betting is the way to go.
What's fun about staring at some poker-faced dealer?
Isn't the appeal that there are real bunny girls there?
The sense of camaraderie with other customers
It's about enjoying the atmosphere
If not, I might actually want to try it
Oh, they get resented alright.
Worst case, you could get jumped and stabbed the moment you leave work.
Grudges over money are scary.
They can train you on the job and manners, but you'd still need to be young and good-looking
It's a dangerous enough job that if someone finds out where you live after losing big, they might actually kill you
I think that'd be great, honestly.
Hanafuda cards and the like too —
I bet foreign tourists would love it
Either way it's the same thing — money gets taken from Japanese people and wired overseas
Pachinko and pachislot aren't legally classified as gambling, they're 'amusement'
Honestly I think pachinko shouldn't be allowed in the first place.
Only the yakuza would ever want to build something like this
What about public gambling (horse racing, etc.) and pachinko then?
Next up, Sasagawa's already talking about horse racing
Might be worth it if it's only a 5-hour shift a day
Sounds like Taiwanese baseball cheerleaders —
those require a college degree too, don't they
What they'll actually need is Chinese, not English
Oh wait, that's not really a casino thing
Make it a special zone so foreign nationals can easily work as bunny girls too
Guess Osaka's given up on doing business on its own merit
and it used to be the center of commerce in Japan
The Osaka governor is worried about Japan's national strength declining due to population loss
Tokyo can afford to be complacent, but the Osaka governor seems to be in a 'do everything we can while we still can' mindset
It's a man-made island with nothing on it, but even after building the IR there's still plenty of land left over
plus there's the Expo site redevelopment too
With only a single subway line connecting it, there's probably no land better suited for an IR
If they built one somewhere like Hokkaido, it'd end up small-scale since there aren't that many tourists coming to begin with
Las Vegas also built its casinos in the middle of the desert —
even the Corleone family from The Godfather
moved their base of operations there
Japanese VIPs returning home: At places like Paradise City in Incheon, Korea, Japanese customers account for more than half of net casino sales. Once the Osaka IR opens, the Japanese VIPs who used to fly to Korea will be able to get their hotel, show, and casino experience entirely within Japan (Osaka).
Outflow of premium Korean customers: Osaka is close to Korea, well within weekend-trip range. With a massive resort featuring luxury hotels, nightlife, and a casino set to open in Osaka, there are fears that wealthy Koreans will divert their travel spending to Osaka instead of keeping it domestic.
Even before opening, the mere existence of the Osaka IR has already started damaging the management decisions and stock prices of Korean companies.
Forced additional investment and shrinking profitability: To hold onto customers against competition from the Osaka IR, Korean casino operators are being forced into upfront investment (renovations and new development) in their facilities and services.
So MGM Osaka and ORIX get to monopolize this, huh
If Osaka stays the only casino in Japan it wins big, but there's no way Tokyo lets that slide (everything's wealth is mine attitude)
Tokyo especially might try to force its way in
Also, if Nagasaki gets one, that'd be a real rival since Korea's cost-performance is unbeatable
Yuriko Koike loves copying Osaka's policies after the fact, like with childcare stuff
Tokyo is definitely eyeing this
But right now, public opinion makes it impossible for Koike to push it through
So ironically, they're just waiting for Osaka to succeed first
Background and Key Points of This Discussion
The Osaka IR is the only integrated resort approved in Japan under the IR Development Act passed in 2018, and construction is proceeding on the man-made island of Yumeshima. Under the law, a casino cannot operate on its own — it must be built as part of an integrated facility that also includes hotels and international convention centers — and this is legally distinct from pachinko, which the thread compared it to: pachinko is classified as ‘amusement’ rather than ‘gambling.’ Dealer training has become a challenge because, beyond customer service manners, dealers need language skills to handle foreign customers, and there are still few professionals with experience domestically — hence the focus on the pay gap with veteran talent overseas. The thread split over how to weigh the high pay of overseas veterans against expected domestic salaries, and concerns specific to the dealer profession — such as trouble with customers and the risk of being personally identified. Worth noting: figures like the ¥4 million annual salary mentioned in the article are posters’ speculation, not an official figure.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (News Speed+) thread ‘[Osaka IR] Training school to secure 3,000 casino dealers — overseas pros earn over ¥10 million, but domestically…‘.
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