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Junket operators to soon function like in Macau
Junket operators would function like the ones in Macau once the Grand Mariana Casino & Hotel Resort opens early next year, according to Best Sunshine International Ltd. chief executive officer Mark Brown.
The Commonwealth Casino Commission had granted Big Bang Entertainment of Korea a provisional junket operator license, with at least 18 more applicants waiting to be vetted.
Brown said that they are working closely with the casino commission to speed up the vetting process. “We’re working closely with the [casino commission] to speed up the vetting process since there are 17 or 18 applications on file.”
“They [casino commission] will look at their [junket operator applicant] current license now where they can actually make phone calls to other casino commissions, either in Macau or other places to speed up the process,” Brown said.
He said the approved junket operator functions more on an individual basis. “The junket operator approved is not what it is used to be like in Macau. We have like a profit sharing junket business in Macau and the same thing will happen once the Grand Mariana opens.”
Big Bang is a Korean-owned junket operator where they bring in customers in Korea and Japan.
“Right now we’re happy to have one junket operator approved and we’re hoping more would follow,” said Brown.
He added that the casino commission would scrutinize all of those who are applying as junket operators. “They are asking for our help on the individuals that applied as far as investigating them on the junket side of things.”
“They always said from the start that if somebody or company applied for a junket license that is currently a junket operator either in Macau or let’s say Australia they would look closely into that,” he added.
CCC executive director Edward Deleon Guerrero, in an earlier interview with Saipan Tribune, said they won’t be imposing a limit on how many junket operators they would allow to do business on Saipan. He said junket operators are a part of the gaming industry.
Saipan, despite BSI operating only a temporary casino, had been competing with the likes of Macau, Las Vegas, Singapore, and the Philippines in terms of attracting casino gamers on the island.
