Previous Story
IPI re-opens casino
Imperial Pacific International (CNMI) LLC announced, in a brief statement yesterday, that it has resumed the operations of its casino at the Garapan facility.
Sources say the casino re-opened at about 6pm and would continue to have one-shift operations from 6pm to 2am daily—until everything normalizes on the island.
IPI had to stop its casino operations for a few days after their facility sustained damage following the onslaught of Super Typhoon Yutu last month, whose destructive winds brought down power poles that caused a massive islandwide power outage.
No incoming international flights also contributed to the closure as no tourists were coming in. The Francisco C. Ada/Saipan International Airport was only open to military aircraft that were bringing in relief supplies.
IPI, in a statement last week, said they also suffered hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage and losses from its operations, similar to other businesses on the islands of Saipan and Tinian.
Yutu’s destruction directly hit the CNMI’s tourism industry, with the remaining tourists from South Korea being airlifted by their government, while emergency flights were also allowed to bring the remaining off-island visitors out of Saipan.
The Saipan airport resumed its regular daytime flights last Friday and plans to restart regular nighttime schedule tomorrow.
IPI’s initial plan, once all tourists left the island, was to have reduced casino hours, with essential employees to be working in shifts from Nov. 2 to 15. IPI allowed their non-essential personnel to either take a paid time-off or voluntarily join the company-initiated community service, with stipend allocation.
