Osaka faces a challenge: What to do about the whales? No, there's nothing the International Whaling Commission can do and don't bother calling Greenpeace or Sea Shepherd, for catching these whales is a form of hunting far more difficult than firing harpoons into a leviathan.

In the gambling industry, "whales" generally refers to the high rollers. The top whales — the Moby Dicks, if you will — are the ones who blow into town on private jets, rent the top suites in the best hotels, run up a bar bill greater than the GDP of several developing nations, and shop until they drop at the plethora of Italian and French fashion houses near the casino. You can catch a glimpse of them in the roped-off VIP room, reeking of expensive cologne and dressed like George Clooney or Julia Roberts, sipping a glass of premium Champagne or a 1963 Warre vintage port and placing large amounts of money on a single bet.

Without whales, a casino can earn a reputation as being a dull backwater full of "sardines." You know the type — rubes in loud polyester clothing, traveling on a cheap package tour, and hoping they'll get lucky at the ¥100 slot machines and win enough money to visit a fancy restaurant, the kind where napkins are made of linen and the utensils are metal, not plastic.

Which brings us to Osaka. Japan continues to debate whether to allow legalized gambling. In Osaka, however, the pro-casino lobby (the "sharks") is looking ahead to what kind of customers might patronize a local casino. There is a gleam in the eyes of politicians convinced that if they build it, customers — especially whales — will come.

Particularly Chinese whales, which raises a number of questions. Current plans call for a casino resort on Yumeshima, a man-made island in Osaka harbor, a good distance from the nearest airports. The city hopes Chinese gamblers will make a good percentage of the customer base. But will high-end customers fly into Kansai or Itami airports on their private jets and endure a one-hour ride (or more) through city traffic just to play at a casino? Of course, they could go by helicopter, but is the trip to Osaka itself worth it?

The second question is about casino service. The push to legalize "integrated resorts" — a cluster of hotels, convention centers and gambling halls — is supported by politically connected firms that manufacture slot machines used overseas. Whales, however, tend to prefer lower-tech games that have a much higher payoff. That requires card dealers, dice rollers, employees and managers who are linguistically and culturally fluent in the needs of their customers. If Osaka's casino ends up being slot-machine heavy and its mentality is more tailored toward herding the sardines than in catering to the whales, problems will arise.

Finally, there's the question of location. Past commentators have suggested Kansai airport, in southern Osaka Prefecture, rather than Yumeshima would be a more profitable venue for a casino resort. For drawing foreign whales, who want to fly in and out quickly, that might be the case. However that would also mean less revenue for the city of Osaka.

Last week, it was announced Japan might ease requirements for issuing multiple-entry visas to wealthy Chinese. This is a clear message to Chinese high-end gamblers that Japanese casinos, should they come into being, want their business.

However, Osaka politicians have yet to show, through detailed, unbiased marketing research, that their plans to catch wealthy Chinese or other whales, or even sardines, are based on something other than a shark-like grin of confidence.

Until they do, Osaka voters and gambling opponents will always smell something fishy about official assurances a casino will turn a profit.

View from Osaka is a monthly column that examines the latest news from a Kansai perspective.