Permanent casino to open in early 2017
Casino commissioners on Saipan are considering the credentials of junket operators who want to get into the Pacific island’s budding casino industry.
So far only one junket runner, Korean operator Big Bang Entertainment, has been approved to do business with Best Sunshine Live, a temporary casino owned and operated by Imperial Pacific Entertainment, and the Imperial Pacific resort, the luxurious permanent casino resort due to open by next February.
“The other applicants are still under review,” Commonwealth Casino Commission Executive Director Edward Deleon Guerrero told the Saipan Tribune. “We have 17 other applicants; we took some of them and we turned some back. There are certain areas that they are missing and have not yet completed or complied with. Some of them have re-submitted their applications.”
The Imperial Pacific, also known by the name Grand Mariana, will include a luxury hotel that’s expected to be fully operational by August of next year.
The Pacific island of Saipan is part of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. territory.
