A view from the top

This is in response to my friend, Efrain Camacho, who probably is sitting in one of his penthouse offices atop his beautiful commercial buildings at the Marianas Heights Business Park in Puerto Rico. I truly admire Mr. Camacho’s gamble in the business sector to spend millions of dollars to build two luxurious buildings next to a former federally-planned dump and noisy island power plant.

However, Mr. Camacho’s gamble has paid off. He has beaten the odds with many good-paying tenants, e.g., Bank of Hawaii, The Consular Office of Japan, various high-priced attorneys, several federal agencies, etc. Did he target local renters, I wonder?

I also wonder if Mr. Camacho had all facts and leases in front of him when he built the first building. Maybe he did have the lease of the Bank of Hawaii, which most likely helped him with the construction money, although the rest of the leases were probably just a dream until later. I want Mr. Camacho to show me all his facts and pre-building leases that he had signed and banked away. How was he justified in building his empire?

Now in this present day of severe economic turmoil, closing businesses, rising power costs, and austerity hardship of private and public workers on Saipan, Mr. Camacho looks down upon us and preaches that Saipan should not take a gamble and try to build a casino gaming industry that has prospered elsewhere, e.g., 1) 35 out of the 50 states in the United States with a total of 872 casinos, including 28 in New Mexico with a new one beginning construction in June 2011; 2) 17 casinos in Puerto Rico and one in the Virgin Islands (source: Wikipedia: List of U.S. casinos). Does he have no confidence in the people of Saipan to make casino gambling a success? Why hasn’t he spoken out against poker parlors that were legislated for local gambling in 1983? He is wrong in his statements that poker machines were targeted for tourists. It was intended for locals as stated in the “Legislative Findings” of Public Law 3-70: “The Legislature finds that certain forms of betting and gambling require a higher degree of skill or knowledge to win, and so many are readily accepted by the people of the Northern Mariana Islands. These forms include poker machines, bingo, raffles, batu, and cockfighting.”

What facts does he want about the casino gaming industry that is easily available on the Internet? Check the success rates for international casinos around the world.

Saipan is a tourist destination and tourists love to play and have adventure. Think of successful tourist areas like Las Vegas, Atlantic City, the Caribbean, Europe, Macau (China), etc. According to the World Casino Directory and Wikipedia, the United States has casinos in most of its states, and they provide hundred of thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in revenue.

Mr. Camacho makes references about New Mexico having problems with its casinos, which seems opposite to the information on the Internet. He mentions he spoke with New Mexico casino operators and they say it costs a lot to regulate the casinos in New Mexico. Of course it costs extra money because it’s simple math to figure that, with the growth and success of new casinos in New Mexico, it’s going to cost more money. The relative cost of operating a multitude of casinos in New Mexico as compared to Saipan’s few casinos is within Saipan’s capabilities. Mr. Camacho asks where will the money come from to regulate the Saipan gaming industry. Well, where does his money come from to pay his loans and to renovate and maintain his buildings: the money comes from his renters, as compared to the revenues from the casinos will pay for Saipan’s casino regulation. Furthermore, when Mr. Camacho had more renters, didn’t he expand to a second building?

New Mexico has a thriving gaming industry (28 casinos at last count) and still there are new ones being planned and built. So, is New Mexico failing with its casino businesses? I don’t think so. Can Saipan be successful? We won’t know unless we try. By the way, Mr. Camacho, it’s the casino investors who are actually taking the risk in bringing their casinos to Saipan. So, what is your real worry?

So, let’s give Saipan and the Northern Islands a chance to try its luck. We just need to offer attractive legislation and good locations for them to be successful. What can we lose? Speaking of losing big time, right now more and more people on Saipan are losing their jobs, businesses, and livelihoods.

Well, it must be nice at the top, Mr. Camacho, but don’t forget the people down below struggling to make their lives better.