Donald Browne, the newly appointed CEO of Saipan casino operator Imperial Pacific International (IPI), has reportedly told government officials that his company will not be run out of the market.
According to the Saipan Tribune, Browne told members of the House of Representatives gaming committee, “There’s word on the street that there are already three or four other people lined up to take our livelihood away. We can’t stand for that.”
Browne also said threats of a gaming license revocation is affecting a potential reopening plan for the casino.
Inside Asian Gaming, in a report on the operator, catalogued its turbulent history, starting as a temporary casino in a shopping mall on the western Pacific island that reported greater rolling volumes than VIP operations in Macau. Since then, IAG reported, “Imperial Pacific International has built a stunning track record of losses, unpaid bills, broken lives and broken promises.”
But Browne said he plans to change that. “We refuse to allow past events to distract or derail us in our quest to complete the hotel and its many amenities.” Browne was named CEO in July under pressure from regulators in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), a U.S. protectorate.
“This is a huge investment not just in a monetary sense, but also in the thousands of hours spent on perfecting processes, training and initiating best practices, to ensure that when we open the hotel component, we will not disappoint our guests,” Browne said. “We are in the process of rebuilding our organizational structure which will assist to streamline processes and communication flow, create efficiencies and better decision making.”
IPI has been accused of importing illegal, unskilled workers from mainland China, failing to ensure worker safety, and other offenses. It has failed to make payroll and racked up billions of dollars in unpaid VIP debt. Beyond business losses, IPI owes millions in taxes, fees, contractor bills and legal judgments. It has not paid its annual US$15 million license fee or the US$3 million regulatory fee that funds the Commonwealth Casino Commission.
IPI has reported a cumulative loss of US$670 million, including US$498 million last year, IAG reported. The unfinished permanent casino, called Imperial Palace Saipan, has been closed since March 17 due to Covid-19.
In August, IPI requested abatement of license and regulatory fees due to the casino shutdown, causing Governor Ralph Torres to threaten to suspend or revoke the company’s license. Proposing a ninth casino license revision, IPI wants fee reductions and a two-year extension of the deadline for completing the hotel to February 2023.
IPI’s 2019 annual report contends that it spent US$879 million through last year on the resort expected to cost US$600 million. “I cannot speculate on the amount they have paid, but do not see anything close to US$900 million in construction work in place on this project,” Pacific Rim Group President Keith Stewart said. Based in Guam, Pacific Rim has won a US$6.9 million judgment against IPI for unpaid bills.
“IPI must be held accountable for all its legal and contractual obligations,” Representative Tina Sablan said. “Unfortunately, the CNMI government is in many ways falling short of its own duties to hold IPI accountable.”
Pacific Rim Land Development, for its part, has asked for vehicles and gaming machines to be seized from the resort and sold to raise funds, local media report.
