Gaming | Saipan casino opening will likely be delayed

This February 25, 2017 photo shows the under-construction integrated resort in Saipan

Imperial Pacific International Holding’s Saipan casino project is unlikely to meet its first quarter opening deadline it has emerged, with construction of the integrated resort still far from completion.

Imperial Pacific had announced in January that the new casino would launch “in the first quarter of 2017,” with the possibility of a “soft opening” on March 31.

However, pictures of the integrated resort, taken at the end of last month and sent to the Times, indicate that the resort will not be able to meet this deadline.

According to a source with knowledge on the matter who asked not to be identified, as of late last month, “the [building’s] structure wasn’t even finished yet.”

The source also told the Times that within Saipan’s internal political dialogue, there appears to be a disagreement between incumbent governor Ralph Torres and the attorney general of the Northern Mariana Islands, Edward Manibusan.

Manibusan has reservations over allowing the casino to partially open while construction works are underway, while the governor is allegedly lobbying for permission to operate under such conditions.

“Cranes are still overhead and the Saipan attorney general does not want people going into a construction site but the governor is leaning very heavily on him to grant approval for a partial opening despite cranes operating overhead,” the source informed the Times.

It was revealed earlier this week that Ralph Torres had been invited on a fact-finding mission to Hong Kong and Macau in 2013 that may have been arranged by a firm connected to Imperial Pacific. Soon after, Imperial Pacific was awarded the contract to build a casino on the island, reported Bloomberg.

Late last month, the company started the process of applying to local authorities for a delay in the casino’s opening, as well as an extension to the operation of its temporary casino.

Imperial Pacific has already submitted a formal request for the extension of the temporary casino, which opened in July 2015 and was due to close on April 30 this year. The request proposes October 31, 2017 as the new deadline for its closure.

Meanwhile, the permanent casino would begin operations from February 11, 2018, and not as originally planned in August this year.

According to the Marianas Variety newspaper, the company has justified the need for an extension to complete the construction works on the basis of “extensive damage to the construction site and office” caused by a powerful typhoon in 2015.