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Hopwood among potential casino site
If license is granted, retirees could get 25% pension late-June to July
Gov. Eloy S. Inos said yesterday that among the potential sites on Saipan for a minimum $2 billion integrated resort with a casino is the current location of Hopwood Junior High School in Chalan Piao, with the investor funding the school relocation costs. However, everything still depends on whether the Lottery Commission will grant Best Sunshine International Ltd. an exclusive casino license on or before June 19.
The governor said if and when a casino license is granted and the $30 million in escrow is released, retirees could expect to get their deferred 25 percent pension by end June or July.
House Speaker Joseph Deleon Guerrero (Ind-Saipan) said if a casino license is granted, the $30 million is expected to cover retirees’ deferred 25-percent pension, and “about 90 percent” of interest on retirement contribution withdrawals.
At the same time, Inos said commission consultants are “ahead of schedule” as the number of applicants is “down to one.”
Inos was among those who attended the public presentation of Best Sunshine’s business plan on Tuesday. He said the decision rests with the Lottery Commission, not him.
He hopes that there won’t be major issues affecting the applicant’s “suitability” to operate a casino on Saipan.
The Lottery Commissioned hired two U.S. based consultants to help evaluate Best Sunshine’s application: casino investigator B2G Global Strategies and gaming consultant The Innovation Group of Companies.
When asked whether he has outstanding concerns about the application process, the governor cited the “issue of the Marianas Stars, that may or may not have met the deadline and so forth.”
The four-member Lottery Commission chaired by Commerce Secretary Sixto Igisomar rejected Marianas Stars Entertainment Inc.’s application, citing the investor’s failure to timely deposit $30 million in escrow as required by law.
Marianas Stars is seeking reconsideration of the commission’s decision, and the latter granted the investor’s request for a meeting today.
“I understand the commission’s position, but I also understand that they are willing to give them a chance to make whatever presentation they wanted to make, notwithstanding the deadline…keeping in mind that the deadline is still a deadline. Unless something is changed, the decision remains,” the governor said.
As to the possible location of an integrated resort on Saipan should a casino license is approved, the governor echoed Department of Public Lands Secretary Pete A. Tenorio’s recommendation for the investor to look for private properties first before setting their sight on public lands. Inos said his administration would like private landowners to directly benefit from the project.
But because of the magnitude of the project—at least 2,000 rooms and a minimum $2 billion integrated resort—there are hardly any private land available on Saipan that can accommodate the project. But he said depending on the investor, it can use private lands and public lands adjacent to each other.
“For example, the only thing I can think of is maybe Hopwood [Junior] High School but that requires the relocation of the school,” he said, adding that the investor will have to fund the relocation of the school. Hopwood is in a beach area, which is preferred for an integrated resort development.
