Regulator: BSI compliant with workforce ratio

Best Sunshine International, Ltd.’s temporary casino meets its required 65-to-35 percent U.S. citizen-to-foreign worker ratio set by its exclusive casino license agreement last year, according to Saipan casino regulators.

At the same time, regulators said that Best Sunshine’s luxury yacht—the Grand Mariana, which is stationed at the Port of Saipan—has been investigated and found compliant since it arrived this November.

Commonwealth Casino Commission executive director Edward Deleon Guerrero said they have sent a surveillance team to assure that there were no unlawful gaming activities aboard the yacht. Guerrero said that based on investigation and interviews with staff, no gaming activities or equipment were found aboard the vessel.

“There shall be no gaming activities allowed on the yacht,” Guerrero told Saipan Tribune last week. “None were found.”

Edward Cabrera, manager of the commission’s division of enforcement and investigation, said the commission should be contacted if anything “fishy” or unlawful is suspected.

According to data from the commission—obtained through applications of key and casino employees—Best Sunshine has a total number of 590 employees.

Of that number, 397—or 67 percent—are U.S. citizens, according to the commission; 193—or 33 percent—are non-U.S. citizens.

“Their current 67 percent U.S. citizen employees meet the agreed percentage,” Guerrero said.

According to Guerrero, the projected costs of BSI’s temporary gaming facility in T Galleria in Garapan is between $25 million and $40 million. That includes cost to renovate, machines, and hiring costs.

Guerrero said 590 employees have been hired, with as high as 700 employees estimated.

For their $500-million casino resort in Garapan, BSI has projected a need for a minimum of 3,500 employees, or closer to 4,000, according to Guerrero.

Guerrero also said within the last two weeks they received their last visit from Gaming Laboratory International—the global industry leader for slot machine standards—and that all “45 gambling tables and 106 slot machines” on the casino floor have been “completely certified, audited” and assured compliant.

Best Sunshine and its casino service providers are required to have its slot machines or gaming devices meet GLI standards before shipment to Saipan, and upon installation at the T Galleria before they are commissioned.

“Every aspect of those machines from the function, to the random generator in the machines, to the network and configuration” have been inspected, said Ian Morrell, manager and systems administrator for information technology.

Essential employees

Guerrero also clarified an earlier report that the commission’s employees have been classified as “essential”—via a bill that now sits with acting governor Ralph DLG Torres—before police officers and teachers. It’s been the practice for the Executive Branch to develop “essential employee” lists during austerity or government shutdowns.

The 17th Legislature drafted two bills in both its chambers to finally mandate and define essential services, but these bills failed to either pass or leave committee, Saipan Tribune learned.

“All of revenue we are requesting is from the casino regulator fee. None of it comes from the general fund. So we are not competing, for example, with the police or the teachers,” Guerrero said. “This is specific to industry that we regulate. Every penny that we spend here, with the exception of the $1,000 that was appropriated by the Commonwealth government—every penny is coming from the industry that we license,” Guerrero said.

“In austerity, even if we had all the staff not working, it would not save the Commonwealth any money, because we are not getting our source from the general fund. We are getting it from—for all practical purposes—Best Sunshine.”

He said if the government shuts down, the casino remains opens and the commission has to have a presence.

“It’s similar to emergency. Does the casino shut down on Typhoon Condition 2? No. In many cases since July…they were open a majority of the time. That’s why we have to remain open.”

Smoking concerns

There has been concern that the commission is not doing its job by not enforcing anti-smoking laws, as the Best Sunshine casino continues to exude secondhand smoke in an unenclosed facility that health officials have criticized as hazardous and in violation of the law.

Guerrero suggests that this question be directed to the Bureau of Environmental Health, as this does not fall under the commission’s regulator purview.

“If they do issue out a notice of violation, a cease and desist order, that may come under our purview,” he said. “We’ll get there when we cross that bridge. …Until such time…we cannot be a participant in that process,” Guerrero said.

Underage handling of alcohol

House Bill 19-95 also allows BSI employees under the age of 21 to serve and handle alcohol on the casino floor.

Guerrero said the request for this provision comes from the Northern Marianas College.

He said the college has reported a very large number of young citizens 18 and 20 who want an opportunity to work in the casino industry but because of the restrictions on the floor, they cannot do so because they are not 21 or older.

‘That recommendation came from NMC, asking if it was possible to have a very large group of 20 and 18 to 20 years old,” Guerrero said. “I think you are opening up an area of employment that would generally be prohibited to them, for folks to be gainfully employed,” said Cabrera. “It’s simply to allow them to serve alcohol in performance of that duty.”