CCC asks for $3.19M budget for FY 2022

The Commonwealth Casino Commission is asking the Legislature for a $3.19-million budget for fiscal year 2022, to be used for personnel, operations, and related costs that would enable it to carry out its casino regulatory mandates.

CCC board chair Edward C. Deleon Guerrero and CEC executive director Andrew Yeom said they are asking for just $1 from the general fund pursuant to the Office of Management and Budget’s instructions for zero budget increases and $3.19 million from the CCC regulatory fee fund.

Deleon Guerrero and Yeom submitted their budget request last Feb. 26 to Senate President Jude Hofschneider (R-Tinian) and House Speaker Edmund S. Villagomez (Ind-Saipan). They had already submitted an identical copy of the request to the Office of the Governor and OMB pursuant to their Jan. 29, 2021, budget call.

CCC is also asking for 51 full-time employees, the same number as in previous appropriations.

Deleon Guerrero and Yeom also disclosed that, by the end of fiscal year 2020 to date, Imperial Pacific International (CNMI) LLC has paid $170.4 million in gross gaming revenue taxes, spent over $1 billion in the purchase of goods and services from various vendors, and over $105.5 million in payments for the exclusive license fees and casino regulatory fees.

The two CCC officials noted that the casino industry cannot succeed nor operate without the presence of the CCC, which is the enforcement and regulatory entity for the Saipan gaming industry.

Deleon Guerrero and Yeom said they are asking for only $1 from local funding source just to keep this account from being deleted. The remaining $3,191,060, while still requiring legislative appropriations, is actually earmarked for the CCC as per law.

Deleon Guerrero and Yeom said that Public Law 19-24, as amended by P.L. 21-38, earmarked $3,150,000 from IPI and $41,060 has already been received from gaming and non-gaming vendors that required casino licensure or registration. Both of these funds are classified as CCC regulatory fee funds.

CCC received its status as a full autonomous agency only last January when Gov. Ralph DLG Torres signed Public Law 21-38, and all of their procurement and personnel processing are still being handled by the Department of Finance through a memorandum of agreement.

Under Public Law 21-38, CCC, and not the Finance secretary, shall establish and maintain a CCC regulatory fee fund to be kept separate and apart from the general fund of the government.

The new law provides that, as an autonomous agency, CCC shall determine its staffing levels for full-time, part-time, seasonal, and temporary employees.

The new law also gives, among other things, CCC the authority to issue a casino license.