2 casino investors face off

Casino applicants Best Sunshine International Ltd. and Marianas Stars Entertainment Inc. faced off in front of the Lottery Commission and the public on Capital Hill yesterday to vie for a license to exclusively develop a minimum $2-billion integrated casino resort on Saipan, amid at least two lawsuits over the Saipan casino law and other skirmishes.

The Marianas Stars Entertainment Inc. team share a light moment before their presentation of their business plan to the Lottery Commission yesterday at the Office of the Governor on Capital Hill. (Haidee V. Eugenio)

Marianas Stars consultant Albert Davia of Five E Solutions, along with Cario Hon, led the investor group’s public presentation of their business plan, four days after the Lottery Commission reconsidered its earlier rejection of the group’s application, and a week since Best Sunshine presented theirs.

Marianas Stars plans to build a “Legend of the Ocean” integrated casino resort and theme park in four phases, the grand opening for which is in 2020. If granted the license, they hope to complete the first phase in 2017, inclusive of a 500-room hotel and casino.

Before Marianas Stars could begin their scheduled presentation, Best Sunshine chief operating officer Terence Tay made the lone public comment, not only to highlight their own business plan but also to express “disappointment” with the “events of the past week” that led to their competitor getting back in the race.

“Our competitor had been disqualified for not depositing the license fees in accordance with the RFP [request for proposals]. If they questioned or objected to the May 5th deadline stated in the RFP and the escrow documents which they signed prior to the closing of the RFP, perhaps this very unfortunate situation will not have unfolded,” Tay, a former state counsel and deputy public prosecutor with the Attorney General’s Chambers of Singapore, told the commission.

Tay said the two conditions imposed on Marianas Stars “cannot repair the injustice or end the injury.”

“There will be a separate and more appropriate forum to address these issues,” Tay said in the public comment period. He reiterated this point in a brief interview with reporters later.

Marianas Stars counsel Sean Frink, in a separate interview, took this to mean that Tay of Best Sunshine was alluding to suing the Lottery Commission for allowing Marianas Stars to compete.

Frink said Marianas Stars was “surprised” that Tay of Best Sunshine “demanded to be heard before our presentation” could begin.

He claimed that Tay’s public comment was almost 15 minutes “and even went as far as to allude filing a lawsuit against the commission for its decision to allow us to compete.”

“We suspect that this is because Best Sunshine fears competition for the Saipan casino license. We believe that our group has unique competitive advantages that our competitor does not possess, including having experiences in how business is done here,” Frink said. “From our time here, we understand that making unnecessary threats is often understood as coming from a place of insecurity rather than strength.”

Frink and Marcia Schultz represent Marianas Stars.

Best Sunshine, meanwhile, went to the Lottery Commission meeting yesterday with at least three Saipan-based lawyers—Mark Hanson, Colin Thompson, and Sheila Trianni. These last three lawyers said they were there to “observe,” but were conferring with Tay.

Frink said Marianas Stars welcomes the competition “and believes strongly that the Saipan casino license should be awarded based purely on the qualifications of the proposer and the quality of their ideas for developing Saipan into a world-class tourist destination and we all know that it could be.”

Tay, for his part, told the commission once again that Best Sunshine has worked hard to ensure that it meets—and exceeds—all the commission’s criteria, including “financial capabilities, business experience, integrity and intent to benefit the people of the CNMI.”

“Just in terms of financial capabilities, our company listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange has market capitalization of $500 million…I believe our nearest competitor has a market capitalization of 1/15th of ours,” Tay told the commission.

The Lottery Commission, chaired by Commerce Secretary Sixto Igisomar, went into executive session after Marianas Stars’ presentation. The commissioners called in the Marianas Stars team to the executive session. They later called in Tay of Best Sunshine for a separate meeting, also during the executive session.

As of yesterday, the four-member Lottery Commission had yet to issue a statement on their decision to reconsider their May 8 rejection of Marianas Stars’ application. On May 16, Marianas Stars, through Frink, pointed out that the deadlines that the commission announced were not in compliance with the two Saipan casino laws.

Moreover, as of yesterday, the Lottery Commission has yet to confirm in writing from Bank of Guam whether Marianas Stars indeed deposited $30 million on or before May 19. Saipan Tribune learned that the money was in on May 16. The second condition is a May 20 public presentation.

“Two applications are now under review,” Igisomar said. He declined to comment further.

Other commissioners present yesterday were Finance Secretary Larrisa Larson, Deputy Attorney General Gil Birnbrich and Police Capt. Pete Leon Guerrero, representing Public Safety Commissioner James Deleon Guerrero.

Representatives from the Lottery Commission’s own consultants—from casino investigator B2G Global Strategies and gaming consultant The Innovation Group—were also at the meeting yesterday.

The Lottery Commission has until June 19 to decide whether to grant an exclusive Saipan casino license and to whom.

Lt. Gov. Jude U. Hofschneider also listened for a few minutes at the presentation then left the conference room.