{"id":262150,"date":"2023-03-02T07:01:26","date_gmt":"2023-03-02T13:01:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=262150"},"modified":"2023-03-02T13:56:21","modified_gmt":"2023-03-02T19:56:21","slug":"imperial-pacific-international-owes-millions-for-failed-casino","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/imperial-pacific-international-owes-millions-for-failed-casino\/","title":{"rendered":"Imperial Pacific International Owes Millions For Failed Casino, Commission Asks for Government Intervention"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Commonwealth Casino Commission (CCC) in the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) continues to tread water. Imperial Pacific International<\/a> (IPI) currently owes the regulator $55 million, according to the Saipan Tribune. <\/em>And it has\u00a0no indication that it will ever be able to pay.<\/p>\n

\"Construction
Construction workers work on the Imperial Palace casino in Saipan. The casino’s owner, Imperial Pacific International, continues to rack up bills and now owes over $54 million to the government. (Image: RNZ)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In a meeting this week, the CCC reported that the IPI\u2019s bill continues to grow after missing another deadline.<\/p>\n

IPI now owes more than $46 million for its license and $9.4 million for the regulatory fee, according to the CCC. The CCC now says it doesn’t even have enough money to pay its office space rent. It closed its normal offices<\/a> in January and was operating out of a conference room at a local commercial facility.<\/p>\n

In exchange for gaming exclusivity in Saipan, IPI<\/a> agreed to give the government a piece of the action. It\u2019s supposed to pay $15.5 million for its license and $3.1 million for a regulatory duty, but it hasn\u2019t done so since 2020.<\/strong><\/p>\n

This has put the CCC in a problematic situation since the revenues were marked to fund the commission. Some of the funds were also slated to fund government-led programs, including a retirement plan for civil workers.<\/p>\n

Looking for a Miracle<\/h2>\n

The CCC has repeatedly asked the government to create a bail-out or a loan. The commission approached former governor Ralph Torres when he was in office. They also contacted the new governor, Arnold Palacios, after taking over this past January. But neither government official responded.<\/p>\n

CCC board chair Edward C. DeLeon Guerrero has asked the government to offer the regulator a loan, stating the CCC would pay it back once it received payments from IPI.<\/p>\n

Arbitration Dragging On<\/h2>\n

The situation with IPI got so bad that a judge approved a series of auctions of Imperial Palace assets to pay down the company\u2019s debt. So far, the sales have generated more than $1 million as a fourth auction approaches.<\/p>\n

But this has barely made a ripple in debt. In addition to the money it has to give the CCC and CNMI, IPI also has outstanding debts with contractors and employees.<\/p>\n

The CCC is currently in arbitration with IPI. A judge recently ordered the two to sit at a negotiating table, arguing that IPI had a right to plead its case despite its repeated failures.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The regulator continues to hold monthly meetings — despite having no money. Its situation will likely deteriorate further before anything is resolved, as the two sides won\u2019t meet until the end of May.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no guarantee that the CCC can make that meeting. The arbitration proceedings will take place in Hawaii. But if the regulator has no money now, it might not have any then to cover travel expenses.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Commonwealth Casino Commission (CCC) in the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) continues to tread water. Imperial Pacific International (IPI) currently owes the regulator $55 million, according to the Saipan Tribune. And it has\u00a0no indication that it will ever be able to pay. In a meeting this week, the CCC reported that the IPI\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":64,"featured_media":262149,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[69069,33810],"tags":[82394,81913,13363],"class_list":["post-262150","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-asia-pacific-gaming","category-gaming-business","tag-saipan","tag-asia-pacific-gaming","tag-casino"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nImperial Pacific International Owes Millions For Failed Casino, Commission Asks for Government Intervention - Casino.org<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Imperial Pacific International bill to Saipan for casino continues growing as the Commonwealth Casino Commission is owed over $55 million.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Imperial Pacific International Owes Millions For Failed Casino, Commission Asks for Government Intervention - 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The casino's owner, Imperial Pacific International, continues to rack up bills and now owes over $54 million to the government. 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His scope includes Europe, Latin America, the Caribbean and Asia. Erik has covered gaming markets in Europe and Asia for the past six years. Erik joined Casino.org in November 2021. Erik has written for numerous gambling- and a handful of industry publications has quoted casino-related media outlets over the years and. He is always excited to bring a new perspective on what's happening in the gaming space. Erik enjoys following the global gaming industry, paying particular attention to innovation and regulation. Originally from the US, Erik has spent extensive time living in various countries across the globe. He enjoys anything that has to do with the outdoors and exploration, although he readily admits that he would have no trouble spending all day fishing on a boat. He currently resides in Spain. Contact Erik at erik.gibbs@casino.org.","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/erik-gibbs\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262150","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/64"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=262150"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262150\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/262149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=262150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=262150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=262150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}