A Tokyo financial source confirmed to GGRAsia that the Cabinet Committee of Japan’s House of Representatives is expected to begin discussions on legislation to legalize casino resorts on Wednesday.

“I think the House cabinet committee will finally start discussing the IR bill tomorrow,” the official said, referring to the integrated resort bill. The source asked not to be named because he was not authorized to comment on the subject formally.

Masahiko Shibayama, chairman of the Cabinet Committee of the House of Representatives, confirmed to the media on Tuesday that discussions, including question-and-answer sessions, will begin on Wednesday.

But that doesn’t mean the bill can pass both chambers of Congress until it is officially finished on Sunday. It is likely to be as early as autumn, before the upper house, the upper house, can argue on the matter.

Even so, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party of Japan and its coalition partner, the Komeito, also hold a majority, but the upper house’s consent cannot be taken for granted.

At a Japanese game convention in Tokyo in mid-May to discuss progress on the IR bill, Sakihito Ozawa, a member of Japan’s Yushin Party, warned, “We have to pass the Senate, and they act differently against the House.”

The pro-casino policy is expected to be central to the government’s stimulus program, which will be detailed in the next session of parliament.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (pictured), who made an official visit to Lion City last month, said during a visit to a Singapore casino that “integrated resorts will be a key feature of my growth strategy.”

But last week the Economist newspaper reported potential complications for a smooth passage of government and IR legislation: Soka Gakkai, a peace Buddhist group with a network of voting movements supporting the Komeito. The Komeito is “particularly worried that a backroom compromise on a separate issue – the government’s desire to reinterpret Article 9 of Japan’s post-war constitution, which prevents its troops from being helped by allies – could damage its position with Soka Gakkai, a vote-getter in the spring local elections,” the paper said. 안전한 카지노사이트

“One way to get out of the woods and the focus of many rumors is for Abe to call snap elections for MPs before the spring of 2015,” The Economist reported, suggesting that such a move might give him stronger authority but also slow the implementation of his economic and political reforms that many had heralded.