A hit with high rollers
In November, its first full month of operations, a temporary casino on the island of Saipan has proven a big hit with VIP players. The casino is run by Hong Kong-listed Best Sunshine International, a subsidiary of Imperial Pacific.
In addition to generating the big bucks, Best Sunshine Live will also serve as a staff-training center for the permanent casino, a $7.1 billion integrated resort, now under construction on Garapan. The Grand Mariana Casino and Hotel Resort should be complete by December 2016.
At a soft opening in July, the property in the Marianas Islands had just 10 gaming tables. As of November, it had 45 gaming tables and 106 electronic gaming machines as well as 600 employees.
According to the Asia Gaming Brief, Managing Director Yan Shen said the casino is averaging about 5,800 people a day.
Imperial Pacific has said it expects to work with junket operators “from December 2015 onwards,” reported GGRAsia.
Acting Governor Ralph Torres signed off on Saipan’s casino bill earlier this month, but not before demanding amendments to that legislation, the website CalvinAyre.com reported. Torres does not approve of a non-refundable tax credit for Best Sunshine that is called for in the bill. He told Marianas Variety “the costs of regulating casino gaming activities on Saipan are to be paid in full by the licensee. I am not convinced there are good reasons to grant tax relief for this purpose.”
Torres also rejected a provision that would allow casino employees from 18 to 21 years of age to serve alcohol on the job.
