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No casino application before holiday
Gov. Eloy S. Inos was expecting that an application could be filed yesterday, the eve of today’s Good Friday holiday and with only a few days before Monday’s deadline for any investor to turn in their application for an exclusive license to operate a casino on Saipan.
As of press time yesterday, press secretary Angel Demapan said the administration didn’t receive any application.
“The application is probably not a big deal. It’s the funds that would have to go through the banking system…that’s why they have to allow 24 to 36 hours,” Inos said in an interview at the Joeten-Kiyu Public Library in Susupe.
The application has to be accompanied by a nonrefundable $1 million application fee.
Inos clarified that advising the government that an application will be filed by deadline is not enough.
“Money has to be in the account,” he added.
House floor leader Ralph Demapan (Cov-Saipan), main author of the casino bill that became law and later amended, said he’s hoping that investors would beat the April 21 deadline.
By May 5, a $30-million casino license has to be deposited in escrow representing the annual license fee for the first and fifth year.
Demapan said he’s one of those who “voted” no to Saipan casino when it was last placed on the ballot.
“But at that time, the economy was good. Retirees’ pensions were not cut. When I became a lawmaker, I saw the government’s problem—a lack of funds to provide all services and needs of the people. With the 25-percent pension cut and higher cost of living, we needed to do something. That’s why I introduced a Saipan casino bill,” he told Saipan Tribune.
He said if nobody applies for a Saipan casino license by April 21, there are still options including amending the law.
The casino law itself allows the Lottery Commission to establish new application procedures in the event that a license is not issued within 90 days after the Act becomes law.
An investor granted a license to exclusively operate a casino on Saipan is required to build a hotel-resort with at least 2,000 rooms and an initial investment of $2 billion.
