The head of the CNMI’s Commonwealth Casino Commission has told local media outlets that he has received expressions of interest from two American investors in operating a casino in Saipan.
According to a report by the Saipan Tribune, CCC Executive Director Andrew Yeom has been contacted by two investors based in New Jersey to explore the possibility of running both offline and online casinos from the CNMI.
It is unclear whether discussions have involved the possible acquisition of Imperial Pacific International’s uncompleted Imperial Palace • Saipan, which has been closed since March 2020 due to COVID-19 and the suspension of its casino license last April for failure to comply with certain requirements under its license agreement. The CCC is scheduled to meet in May to determine whether IPI’s casino license will be permanently revoked.
Yeom noted that IPI’s current casino license was exclusive but described both investors as legitimate. It has previously been suggested that Saipan could issue more than one casino license in future should IPI lose its license, while there has been extensive talk of issuing licenses for online gaming operations.
It was Yeom who originally prompted the suspension of IPI’s license last year after filing five complaints against the casino operator.
Those complaints included failure to pay its annual US$15.5 million license fee in August 2020, failure to pay its annual US$3.1 million regulatory fee in October 2020, failure to contribute US$20 million to the community benefit fund in both 2018 and 2019, failure to comply with its minimum US$2 billion capital requirement and failure to comply with a CCC order to pay all money owing to its vendors.
IPI was also given six months to repay both the US$15.5 million casino license fee and US$3.1 million regulatory fee, as well as a US$6.6 million fine, or risk having its license revoked.
Two bills introduced to the Senate around the same time called for casino regulations to be overhauled, with one bill stating, “It is more than probable that the exclusive casino operator will not be able to complete the construction of its initial gaming facility and overcome all of its financial and legal problems which may result in the revocation of its casino license.
“If the exclusive casino license is revoked, the CNMI should take the opportunity to overhaul the casino industry by revisiting the casino statutory provisions and regulations to improve the industry.”
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