Rep. Edwin Propst of Saipan, an island in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), has appealed to the Commonwealth Casino Commission to compel a local gaming operator to pay what it owes to the local government and the community at large.
Imperial Pacific International (IPI) operates the only Saipan casino, the unfinished Imperial Pacific Palace, which opened to great fanfare and supersized revenues in 2015, but has hit one rough spot after another in the years since: from natural disasters and billion-dollar write-offs to labor problems and multiple missed construction deadlines, which led to several lawsuits. A number of high-level executives have stepped down, most recently, former CEO Mark Brown, who resigned in December, just days after the departure of Phillip J. Tydingco, a lawyer who had been representing IPI in a number of legal cases.
Asia Gaming Brief described the CEO position as “something of a revolving door” as IPI struggles with legal, regulatory and financial problems that have dogged the operation almost since it opened. According to Marianas Variety, IPI is now undergoing a “reorganization.”
In 2018, Hong Kong listed IPI declared a loss of nearly HK$3 billion (US$382 million). It has written off more than HK$9.7 billion in player debt, and still carries almost HK$5 billion, more than five times its reported profits since opening a temporary casino in a shopping mall. IPI now owes the CNMI government $US18 million in infrastructure taxes, $US37 million for the community benefit fund, and more than $US35 million to vendors and former contractors—a total of more than $US90 million.
According to Radio New Zealand, Propst castigated IPI for failing to pay up while many residents continue to live in tents following Super Typhoon Yutu, which devastated the island in 2018.
