Opened in Q3 2016
Best Sunshine Live is a temporary casino and training center in Garapan on the island of Saipan. It’s only been open since December. Yet in a recent filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, Best Sunshine’s parent company, Imperial Pacific International Holdings Ltd., posted rolling chip volume of US$1.65 billion (HK$12.8 billion) for the month of June.
According to GGRAsia, Union Gaming Securities Asia Ltd. analyst Grant Govertsen attributes some of the volume to weaker GGR in Macau. “While we think most of the incremental VIP softness can be lumped into a bucket that includes factors like anti-corruption and economic weakness, it is getting harder to ignore the likely impact of jurisdictions like Saipan,” he said.
June was not even the best month for Best Sunshine, which debuted in November 2015 as the island’s sole casino operator. Saipan has become the “fourth biggest VIP gaming hub in the world, ranked just after Macau, Las Vegas and Singapore,” according to Mark Brown, President and CEO of Best Sunshine.
Part of its success may be due to a lower tax rate than Macau’s and a single casino operator that can offer junket incentives including higher VIP rebates. Marianas Variety reported in April that Imperial Pacific got permission by the Commonwealth Casino Commission to increase VIP rebates from 1.3 percent to 1.8 percent for a six-month trial period. Macau caps the incentives at 1.25 percent, reported the website Yogonet.com.
When the casino opened last year, the Saipan Tribune cited a statement from IP saying Best Sunshine Live would “change the landscape of gaming in the Pacific,” “herald the entry of a once-sleepy island community into the company of world-class destinations,” and turn Saipan—part of the Northern Marianas chain and a U.S. territory—into a “mecca of global travelers with a gnawing hunger for a new brand of entertainment and leisure.”
The temporary casino will soon give way to IP’s planned $7.1 billion integrated resort, Grand Mariana Casino and Hotel Resort, which is set to finish construction by December.
