E-gaming referendum petition nixed

A referendum petition to reject the seven-month-old electronic gaming law will not be presented to voters in the November general elections after the Office of the Attorney General determined that the petition failed to muster at least 3,243 or 20 percent of the CNMI’s registered voters.

Meanwhile, the petitions to reject the Saipan casino laws, Public Law 18-38 and Public Law 18-43, are still under OAG review.

The referendum petition on the electronic gaming law, hand-delivered to the OAG by concerned citizen Leila Staffler on July 7, contained only 2,594 signatures.

Deputy Attorney General Gilbert J. Birnbrich said even if 303 other signatures flagged for review were confirmed, the total number of 2,897 would still not meet the 20-percent requirement.

Birnbrich said in the interest of efficiency, the questionable signatures were not referred to the Commonwealth Election Commission for verification.

“Based on these figures, I hereby certify that the petition does not meet the requirements of 2(a) of Article 9 of the Commonwealth Constitution. Accordingly, the referendum to reject Public Law 18-30 should not be presented to the voters at the next general election,” Birnbrich said in a July 21 letter to Commonwealth Election Commission executive director Robert Guerrero.

Staffler, when sought for comment yesterday, said she is seeking legal advice and reviewing the process and numbers from OAG.

She said the numbers from OAG are “way lower than what was verified by our team of independent verifiers.”

“I want to thank the AG for their timely response and look forward to the other petition results. I also want to thank the people who took time to participate in this civic process, from all the teams of signature gatherers, to the people who put themselves out there by signing their name,” Staffler told Saipan Tribune last night.

Staffler and other petitioners have been wary that a newly enacted bill repealing and reenacting Public Laws 18-38 and 18-43 in their entirety essentially killed the Saipan casino law petitions but said there are still options for voters to be heard on the matter.

The petitioners want to give voters a chance to decide whether they want a casino on Saipan or not. Saipan voters twice rejected a casino proposal.

OAG’s review and decision on the electronic gaming referendum petition came a few weeks after the soft opening of Club C, the first electronic gaming facility on Saipan located at Kanoa Resort.

Juan “Pan” Guerrero, director of Club C, said as a businessman and a former member of the Legislature, he respects the process of circulating petitions for a referendum but there are constitutional requirements that need to complied with.

“This removes the question hanging over the head of investors that also want to go into electronic gaming. …It’s been quite a challenge because we’ve already invested substantial amount of money in Club C. The petition was circulated long after the electronic gaming law was passed. It sends a wrong signal to investors,” Guerrero told Saipan Tribune when sought for comment.

He said Club C has been seeing more tourists. He said the facility provides “destination enhancement,” giving tourists things to do especially at night after a day at the beach.

Guerrero also said the CNMI needs to “move forward,” adding that “times have changed.”

“And some people felt that the decision made by the Legislature is not enough,” he added.

Besides electronic gaming, the CNMI has also legalized video lottery and casino gaming on Saipan.

Just recently, the Lottery Commission selected Best Sunshine International Ltd. over Marianas Stars Entertainment Inc. for a conditional license to exclusively develop a minimum $2 billion integrated casino resort on Saipan, pending the approval of a casino development agreement.