Imperial Pacific International Holdings, one of two companies bidding for a license to operate a casino on the U.S. Pacific island of Saipan, says it will distribute per capita cash vouchers totaling US million if it wins the license.
The Hong Kong-based company said the money would be disbursed “within 60 days” of the license award, with a further $20 million to be donated to a community fund “within 60 days of the applicant commencing construction works on its first hotel in the proposed integrated resort under the business plan”.
A further minimum $20 million per year in cash would be distributed to the community fund after the first full year of operations of the resort’s first planned hotel.
Representatives of Imperial Pacific have been accused in a lawsuit filed in Superior Court in the U.S. Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas of “illegally” providing unspecified “significant benefits” to at least four CNMI senators in exchange for their support of a legalization bill passed earlier this year. The suit was filed by Marianas Stars Entertainment, which owns the Tinian Dynasty casino on the neighboring island of Tinian and is Imperial Pacific’s rival for the license. It cites CNMI’s governor, secretary of finance and the local lottery commission as defendants.
Imperial Pacific denies the allegation.
On June 19, Marianas Stars, also Hong Kong-based, was granted a temporary restraining order b the Superior Court which prevents officials from either denying or approving the issuance of the license. The order has since been extended.
Saipan, the largest island in the CNMI, has authorized one license requiring a minimum US$2 billion investment in an effort to boost tourism and provide funding for pensions and other key government programs.
Meanwhile, Club C, located at the Kanoa Resort on Chalan Kanoa, recently became the first establishment in Saipan to offer electronic gaming machines. The Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. Pacific territory, passed a law regulating e-gaming six months ago.
Ben Lee, chief executive officer of Strategic Gaming Solutions, operator of Club C, said the club, which will target tourists, will hold its formal opening on July 18 with 64 machines; eventually the club will offer 112. The initial investment was $4 million, said Juan ‘Pan’ Guerrero, director at Strategic Gaming Solutions.
