IPI: Closed for “safety” reasons
The casino at the Imperial Pacific Resort on the Pacific island of Saipan closed for about half a day on January 24 after the resort’s surveillance system temporarily went offline. Operator Imperial Pacific International said it closed the casino for “safety” reasons, and denied reports that the shutdown was purposely caused by a disgruntled employee.
A spokesman for the casino operator told local media, “No one from IT or surveillance was fired or laid off.”
In a formal statement, Imperial Pacific International, owner and operator of the resort said, “Due to safety concerns, and because the casino had very little to no patrons in the early morning hours, the decision was made to close the casino until the surveillance system was operational.”
The operator, which holds a monopoly on gaming in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, of which Saipan is a part, has seen a lot of ups and downs since the resort opened in 2015.
Initially, Imperial Pacific made news because of the high volume of VIP bets at its casino, with per-table revenues that exceeded those in Macau, the world’s leading gaming destination. But the impressive numbers were more than offset by the casino’s high volume of uncollected debt. Aside from big debt, the company has had other problems including its use of illegal foreign workers, which led to an FBI probe; its inability to make payroll on time; and multiple delays in completion of the resort.
IPI has also seen a steady exodus of executives, including Mark Brown, who resigned as CEO at the end of 2017 for “family reasons.” He was followed in August 2018 by Marco Teng, a former HR manager who was serving as chairman; Cai Lingli, a senior executive and board director, who also resigned in August; and CEO Henry Cheang, who replaced Brown last December, served for less than a year, and made his exit in October. Earlier this month, Cui Li Jie assumed the leadership of its board, replacing Xia Yuki Yu.
Brown has since “returned from retirement” to serve as interim chairman of the operating unit of Hong Kong-listed firm, and IPI recently won a second extension of the timeline to complete Phase I of the development, with a new deadline of February 28, 2021.
The inconsistencies have led some Saipan lawmakers to call for an end to IPI’s monopoly on gaming in the commonwealth.
