For the umpteenth time, the Commonwealth Casino Commission (CCC) of Saipan – a US commonwealth located in the Pacific about 2,650km east of the Philippines and 2,300km west of the International Date Line – has postponed a long-awaited hearing to consider revoking the casino license of the island’s sole casino operator, Imperial Pacific International (CNMI) LLC.
I’d call it a complete farce had that ship not sailed long ago.
By Inside Asian Gaming’s count, the decision to postpone a hearing scheduled for 22 April 2024 represents the ninth time such a hearing has been postponed in the past 13 months, this time because Imperial Pacific (IPI) conveniently filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on the prior business day. But this is just one of countless tactics and excuses the failed casino operator has fallen back on to delay an inevitable decision on the state of its license as it continues to take the good people of Saipan for a ride.
Since the CCC first announced plans to hold a license revocation hearing in March 2023, IPI has filed temporary restraining orders with the courts, put forward a raft of settlement agreements aimed at locking the CCC into drawn out talks, claimed imminent funding from mysterious investors who [surprise, surprise] never materialized, and even sued both the CCC and the CNMI Governor for alleged breach of the casino license agreement.
IPI has even called for the abolition of all its unpaid regulatory fees – more than US$10 million worth – and for the CCC to refund the fees it had paid prior to its license being suspended in April 2021 (ironically for falling behind on its payments).
Meanwhile, the operator has racked up debts totalling more than US$165 million, according to details contained within its bankruptcy claim, even with a majority of its assets – from gaming tables and slot machines to furniture, high-end liquor and dozens of vehicles – having already been sold by court-appointed receivers.
Despite this, the CCC has bowed to every demand and only weeks ago admitted it was again negotiating with IPI over a proposed settlement agreement under which IPI said it would repay US$24 million this year and a bit more in a decade or so’s time. Exactly where it thought IPI was going to find such cash has never quite been explained.
As a friend said to me recently, “It’s like a girl whose boyfriend keeps cheating on her and all her mates tell her to leave him, only for him to cheat again the next week … and this boy isn’t much of a catch!”
It begs the question as to what the CCC is so scared of? While a potential sale of IPI’s dormant hotel and casino site to an outside investor has been mooted as the obvious solution, those close to the matter suggest there are concerns no one will come to the table given the property’s troubled history, not to mention the weather damage the uncompleted structure has reportedly suffered in the four years since its doors first closed due to COVID, or the sheer size and scale of the development, which has been described as overly ambitious for such a remote location.
It’s understandable that local officials had high hopes for IPI and perhaps they are reluctant to admit it’s time to let go, but what are they really letting go of? You don’t win the Melbourne Cup by flogging a dead horse!
As the old saying goes, “Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.”
