The Commonwealth Casino Commission in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) says it has evidence that Saipan casino operator Imperial Pacific International (IPI) has been collecting “receivables” but declining to share them with its trouble-plagued casino, Imperial Pacific Palace.
According to the Guam Post, in a December 28 meeting casino commissioners asked IPI CEO Donald Browne why IPI’s parent company, IPI Holdings, “never bothered” to send money to its casino on Saipan amid an increasing number of complaints over IPI’s failure to meet its obligations.
Commission Chairman Edward C. Deleon Guerrero said the commission obtained a copy of a June 2020 audit report showing IPI won $127 million from bettors, “which to my knowledge never found its way to Saipan. So have you opened up communication with them that maybe they have been collecting but just did not bother to tell you?”
“I have no knowledge of that $127 million,” Browne replied. He said he would discuss the matter with IPI Finance Director Frances Mafnas, and added that most of the account receivables are “over a couple of years old, and [IPI Holdings] had written off a lot of those.”
Deleon Guerrero told Browne that the receivables collected by IPI’s parent company “are possible salvation,” for the troubled casino, which is still unfinished after several years of operations, and has been plagued by lawsuits from unpaid contractors, laborers and the CNMI government.
“Either you or IPI here are unable to collect from your parent company,” said Deleon Guerrero. He reminded Browne that IPI faces legal action from its creditors, just as gambling debtors do.
“This is gaming,” he said. “If you are not financially suitable, you shouldn’t be holding onto the license.”
In related news, eighty-eight of more than 200 construction workers at the casino site in Garapan will have to leave by the end of January because their H-2B visas are expiring. IPI’s casino license agreement gives the company until February 2021 to complete the construction.
Browne has said IPI has “some people who are going to invest in our company. There are a lot of people with eyes on us and are backing us.”
