Macau gambling junket investor First Natural Foods Holdings plans to invest at least US billion in a resort casino on Saipan if it is awarded the sole casino license recently authorized by the government of the western Pacific island.
English-language Macau Business Daily says the company informed the Hong Kong Stock Exchange that subsidiary Best Sunshine International had submitted a business plan to the authorities on Saipan, the largest island of the US Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas, that includes four hotels and residential villas.
In the meantime, the owner of the commonwealth’s only operating casino, Tinian Dynasty, located on a smaller neighboring island of the same name, said it may contest a decision by Saipan’s Lottery Commission to reject its bid for the license.
The commission says Marianas Stars Entertainment, also a Hong Kong business with junket ties, failed to meet a May 5 deadline for depositing US$30 million in escrow, which the new law requires to be considered for the license.
Marianas Stars claims it met the deadline.
