Soft opening for Saipan’s first electronic gaming

Saipan’s first electronic gaming facility, Club C, held its soft opening last night at Kanoa Resort in Chalan Kanoa, six months after the e-gaming law’s signing and way ahead of any integrated casino resort planned to be built on island.

Portions of fees collected from Saipan’s electronic gaming facilities will be used to help restore retirees’ deferred 25 percent pension and to Saipan, Tinian, and Rota programs, among other things.

“For now, we are the game of the town…We are happy to open our doors,” Strategic Gaming Solutions Inc. director Juan “Pan” Guerrero told Saipan Tribune yesterday. Strategic Gaming Solutions owns Club C.

Guerrero said Club C’s grand opening is set for July 18. The initial investments, he said, is around $4 million.

“We have paid the fees required. The government should be happy with the additional revenues; the retirees should be happy, too, because portions of the fees will go toward their pension payment,” Guerrero added.

Gov. Eloy S. Inos’ proposed $134-million budget already includes $2.5 million in projected revenue from electronic gaming fees.

Besides Club C at Kanoa Resort, another electronic gaming facility on Saipan will also open at Mariana Resort & Spa in Marpi.

Electronic gaming machines are allowed only in hotels on Saipan with at least 100 rooms or, if they have fewer than 100 rooms, should be attached to a golf course.

The electronic-gaming measure was one of the major revenue-generating bills that passed the Legislature the past year; the others include video lottery and casino gaming on Saipan.

Club C opened Tuesday night with 64 machines available for use, of the total 112 machines already paid for, Guerrero said.

“Within the next few days, all the machines will be in use…We have some 35 employees, most of them U.S. workers including retirees who have to go back to work to make up for the lost 25 percent pension,” he added.

Club C, he said, is initially open from 6pm to 2am.

Under the electronic gaming law, 60 percent of the fees collected each year will be used to restore the 25-percent cut in retirees’ pension; 15 percent to pay the interest owed to defined benefit plan members who ended their membership; 15 percent to the Saipan and Northern Islands Legislative Delegation for the senatorial district’s programs; 5 percent for Rota; and 5 percent for Tinian.

Besides electronic gaming on Saipan, the CNMI has also legalized video lottery gaming operations on Saipan to help generate additional revenue for the government, but the latter has been put in the back burner. While casino is now also allowed on Saipan, a bumpy application process, the regulatory framework, lawsuits, pending amendments to the casino law, and other issues have snagged the award of an exclusive license.