Imperial Pacific International (IPI), the Hong Kong-listed company behind a failed casino on the Pacific island of Saipan, has written off some $1 billion in gaming debts since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic—more than all the casinos on the Las Vegas Strip over the past 10 years. It plans to write off an additional $100 million, and owes $100 million more in taxes, fines and past-due bills.
That’s according to Tim Shepherd, director of Fortuna Investments, who presented the figures at a panel on the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) at the ASEAN Gaming Summit in Manila. In Shepard’s view, though IPI wants to negotiate a deal to reopen, it is too little, too late for the company to redeem itself and its investment. The lavish resort, which was never finished, has been closed since March 2020, and is now said to be unsafe.
“It’s a substantial problem for this company to get back on its feet after Covid,” Shepherd said. “Other than being able to pay the lawyers to fight off creditors, they can’t afford to pay the security guards, let alone the building maintenance.”
According to the Saipan Tribune, the CNMI’s Commonwealth Casino Commission (CCC) wants to strip IPI of its exclusive casino license. IPI has sought a preliminary injunction to stay the revocation, claiming it’s found new investors to help dig it out of the hole. IPI has also crafted a “force majeure” defense, saying it could not carry out its financial obligations due to the devastating effect of Super Typhoon Yutu, which caused catastrophic destruction in the CNMI in 2019, followed by the Covid-19 pandemic, which also negatively hit its business hard.
Despite those pleas, regulators may simply want to see the IPI era come to a close.
Two other islands in the CNMI, Rota and Tinian, have passed gaming acts and are looking for casino investors, Shepherd said. “The Tinian Diamond Casino is ready to open and is much more appropriate in terms of size,” he said. “The owner is looking for interested parties to either manage it or buy it.” Rota, too, is seeking investors interested in gaming.
Meanwhile, local lawmaker Tina Sablan points out that the CNMI is on Beijing’s blacklist of countries targeting the Chinese for gambling tourism. As a result, even when borders reopen, the coveted Chinese gambling trade may pass it by.
“I can’t see anything positive coming out of CNMI for now,” Shepherd said.
