Blames weather, labor, other issues for delays
The impact of a 2015 typhoon, a lack of skilled labor and other circumstances has caused Imperial Pacific International Holdings to seek more time to finish a planned casino resort on the Pacific island of Saipan.
According to the Asia Gaming Brief, IPI has pledged to invest a total of $7 billion on the island, part of the U.S.-controlled Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. The company had planned a soft opening in the first quarter of this year.
A temporary gaming operation continues under the name Best Sunshine Live. In 2017, it brought in a total of $32.4 billion in VIP table games revenue including $5.6 billion in January alone, though February’s numbers fell to $1.7 billion.
In a news release, the company said the request for extension was necessary “due to a variety of challenges that caused construction delays, especially the severe damage to construction equipment from Typhoon Soudelor that took several months to repair.”
It cited additional challenges including continuing poor weather conditions; unstable soil and damaged pilings; too much water at the construction site, which delayed the pouring of the concrete foundation; and lack of construction materials. IPI also said it took longer than expected to execute a public land lease for the Garapan section of Saipan where the resort is under construction, among other factors.
The decision whether to grant an extension is now is in the hands of the governor and lottery commission, AGB reported. According to GGRAsia, the firm requested extensions of its temporary casino operations until the end of October and an extension to complete and open the permanent casino to mid-February 2018.
Imperial Pacific has the exclusive right to offer casino gaming on Saipan. It has stated in previous filings that the casino at the 350-suite Imperial Pacific Resort would feature around “200 to 300 gaming tables” and “300 to 400 slot machines.”
Meanwhile, the Saipan Tribune reports that a local lawmaker is asking why no gaming revenue tax is being collected from Best Sunshine. Rep. Edwin K. Propst complained that IPI only pays an annual license fee of $15 million and the standard 5 percent business gross revenue tax, but no gaming tax.
“Fifteen million dollars a year is peanuts for what they are raking in when compared to what we would be receiving if we actually had a gross gaming revenue tax implementing from the beginning,” said Propst. “We have the only casino industry in the world that charges zero on gross gaming revenue taxes.” Earlier this year, Vice Speaker Janet U. Maratita introduced a bill that would impose a 5 percent tax on all gaming revenues in the Commonwealth of Northern Marianas Islands (CNMI).
In related news, the Tribune reports that Hong Kong Entertainment Overseas Investments Ltd., which closed the casino at its Tinian Dynasty Hotel and Casino on Tinian Island in 2015 is now reportedly suing the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services along with the component’s former Director, Leon Rodriguez, and Jeh Johnson, the past U.S. Secretary Of Homeland Security for denying work permits for the operation and painting Tinian Dynasty as an “illegitimate” business. Tinian part of the CNMI, as is Saipan.
In June of that year, the U.S. Financial Crimes Enforcement Network levied a $75 million fine against the property—a new record—for “willful and egregious violations” of anti-money laundering laws. By September of the same year, Tinian Dynasty was forced to close.
