In another few years, the Imperial Palace Saipan casino would have been a casino museum if not for the proposal by New Jersey investors to revive it. For the two individuals who are said to be based in NJ, the inspiration to revamp the nearly defunct casino must have been inspired by the many success stories coming out of the Garden State.
When news of the investor plans came out, many people went out to look for the meat of the headlines. It has since emerged that the duo has the financial means to take on a renovation project of such great magnitude. The integrated resort is going to cost a fortune just to revitalize it to a state that gambling enthusiasts would want to be associated with it.
Located on the Northern Mariana Islands, the casino has the potential to open up the economy in ways that will benefit both the state government and the residents. If the planned takeover happens as it has been planned, the financially desolate casino resort is going to jolt back into betting operations.
What we cover
Authority involvement in the takeover deal
A report that was released by the Saipan Tribune a few days ago indicates that the confirmation was communicated by the director of the Commonwealth Casino Commission, Andrew Yam. At the moment, the only information available on the supposed investors is that they are businessmen in NJ. It has however not yet been revealed who exactly the businessmen are and what activities they are involved in.
At this stage of the takeover deal, the most important aspect would be to establish the authenticity of the interest. According to the Northern Mariana Islands media outlet, Yam has already confirmed that the two investors are real and legitimate. Yam is custodian of much more information concerning the deal but has been bound to discretion by state rules.
The curse of the Imperial Casino
It is interesting to note that the Imperial Casino has been enjoying a monopoly operation in the territory in which it is located and giving it a facelift will definitely be worth every cent. Looking at the bigger picture, the territory is a commonwealth which is comprised of 14 islands. At the time when the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) was making decisions in favor of a single casino resort in the Saipan area, Asia interests sort to interfere.
A bid was held and the winner was a billionaire from Hong Kong known as Cui Lijie who had grown her wealth as a result of Macau’s VIP junket industry. She was the investor who funded the construction of the Imperial Pacific International whose operations led to the building of the Imperial Palace Saipan. All those who knew Lijie were aware of the controversy that characterized the building. It is a pity that the projected which cost a whopping $3.9 billion was marred by such deep scandals from the day it broke ground.
Reports that emerged at the time of constructing the Imperial Pacific indicate that the hotel management had been accused at the time of misleading Chinese laborers. The workers had been attracted by the jobs that were available at the constructed site but it eventually turned into a slavery situation. Amidst these allegations, a construction worker lost their life while at working prompting the FBI to raid the offices of Imperial Pacific in 2017.
At around the same time, there was a money laundering probe conducted by the Department of Justice which placed the casino at the center of it. The casino had at the time temporary casino space which was known as Best Sunshine Live. Housed within a Saipan strip mall, the establishment which bore an unassuming presence went on to become one of the richest NJ casinos in the world.
It is for this reason that the Saipan Casio attracted the attention of authorities, who went on to conduct a forensic audit of its accounts. The investigators who were in charge of the inquiry found out that the immense wealth accumulated by the Best Sunshine was as a result of its involvement with around 100 Chinese high rollers. It is not illegal for a large number of high rollers to prefer a single betting destination so the source of the casino’s riches was legitimate.
Dues to the billions of dollars reported as gross gaming revenue by Best Sunshine, industry critics concluded that the operations of the casino lacked evidence of money laundering. As far as Chinese gambling billionaires were concerned, people believe that their involvement with the Best Sunshine was for purposes of laundering their money. This analogy could have been true because the billions of dollars made from gambling operations vanished as soon as it was reported that the DOJ was following the money trail.
With the huge monetary support no longer there, IPI immediately ran into a cash crisis. The casino could no longer afford to pay its workers and vendors. So bad was the situation that even regulatory fees and licenses went unpaid for extended periods of time, a direct violation of CNMI guidelines. As a result of this situation, the government officials of the Island began threatening the operations of IPI. Yam was among those who supported the revoking of IPI’s gaming license on grounds that the casino operator was not compliant with the conditions of its approval.
Conclusion
The operations of Imperial Palace plummeted further because of the COVID-19 pandemic in March of 2020 and that is the last time its doors were seen open. The Commonwealth Casino Commission has until May to deliberate on this matter. In the meantime, all eyes are on the New Jersey duo to see how fast they will jump at the opportunity before them. According to Yam, they hope to bring backland-based gaming and introduce online gaming to the now shuttered casino establishment.
