Company breached worker cap
More than 200 workers have been ordered off the job at Best Sunshine, the sole casino on the Pacific island of Saipan, because casino owner Imperial Pacific International Holdings Ltd. ran afoul of a cap on foreign labor.
Commonwealth Casino Commission Executive Director Edward Deleon Guerrero told the Saipan Tribune that the Hong Kong-listed operator had already laid off 130-plus foreigners during this fiscal year. Imperial Pacific’s Saipan subsidiary, Best Sunshine International, also relieved around 90 employees from the casino in June, according to the report.
“Some of the employees we license, some of them we do not license who were affected,” he told the Tribune. “We’re trying to balance this gaming and non-gaming issue.”
The island’s only casino opened last year in a temporary location with 50 gaming tables, reported CalvinAyre.com. Best Sunshine expects to open its permanent gaming hall, the Grand Mariana, in January, with more than 250 gaming tables, 400 slot machines and non-gaming attractions including restaurants, bars and clubs.
The company has promised to “move up the training” for local workers, hire more residents, and also recruit employees from the United States. Saipan is part of the Commonwealth of Northern Marianas Island, a U.S. territory.
In another headache for the casino operator, lawmakers are looking to raise the tax on gaming revenue at Best Sunshine, which already ranks No. 4 in the world for rolling chip revenue.
Marianas Variety reports that Deleon Guerrero recently asked the House of Representatives to “take a moment, step back and look at the horizon” before imposing an additional 10 percent tax. He reminded them Best Sunshine is already paying a license fee, gross gaming tax, the business gross revenue tax and regulatory fees, provides new business for local vendors, has paid $10 million for residents’ utility bills, and will invest $170 million in its Grand Mariana Resort Hotel. “Let’s give them a year after the Grand Mariana is completed,” Deleon Guerrero advised House members.
In the midst of all the hubbub, Imperial Pacific International is closer to securing a land lease for its pending resort and spa, reports the Saipan Tribune. Earlier this month, the Department of Public Lands issued a notice of intent to award the lease.
