Inos eyes HK casino investors, new Tinian Dynasty owner

Among possible investors eyeing an exclusive license to operate a casino on Saipan are from South Korea and two groups from Hong Kong, including Tinian Dynasty Hotel & Casino new owner Mega Stars Overseas Ltd., according to Gov. Eloy S. Inos.
The governor and lawmakers met separately with Hong Kong investors the past few months for a plan to invest close to $3 billion in tourism-related businesses in the CNMI.

Inos said the administration has not heard recently from an investor group from mainland China, which also earlier expressed interest in casino operation on Saipan.

The governor said in 10 days or so, the interested investors’ names may be known once they start applying for the exclusive casino license.

House Speaker Joseph Deleon Guerrero (Ind-Saipan) has yet to sign off on a document transmitting to the governor a casino law amendment bill that the Legislature passed last week.

The governor said the major “fixes” to the original casino bill that became Public Law 18-38 are in the amendment bill but he said other amendments could be introduced later, based on what he heard from lawmakers’ floor debate last week.

Other issues about casino operations and security would be addressed through regulations that a casino commission would formulate and promulgate, he added.

The governor said he also expects the 2,000 guest rooms tied to the Saipan casino investment to be built in three years.

For a hotel with at least 2,000 rooms, some 1,200 employees are needed. But at this time, the U.S. Department of Labor has yet to announce whether it will extend the CW program.

Inos said absent a decision on the CW extension, investors can always consider H visas.

“Every time we have a request on casino issue, we always lay on the table that we cannot guarantee labor but there are different scenarios. They’re going to have to work with [U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services) on that issue. What we do want is a lot of local employment and that’s going to be the minimum. We are going to push for 2,000 rooms in three years,” the governor told reporters during Friday’s groundbreaking on the Kalabera Cave development project in Marpi.

As far as the location of the integrated casino resort, the governor said there were earlier interests in an area near LauLau Bay, as well as the current location of Hopwood Junior High School in San Antonio.

The latter, however, would mean that the government has to provide public land to relocate the junior high school and for the investor to build a more modern school.

The investor can either hook up to the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. or generate its own power, and this would be included in the investor’s business plan.

Inos said CUC has a capacity of some 78MW but the usage is only about 30MW, so “we got that reserve [power].”