Regulators eyeing audit of poker machines in CNMI

The Commonwealth Casino Commission will be conducting an audit and inventory of some 700 poker machines in the CNMI and will tap a foreign firm to conduct the certification of the machines.

Casino commission executive director Edward Deleon Guerrero said this is in preparation for the commission’s eventual takeover of regulating these machines from the Department of Finance.

Deleon Guerrero said GLI, a certification company based in Australia, is being eyed to assist the commission with the planned audit.

There was no schedule given on the actual audit.

But Deleon Guerrero said a representative from GLI visited the CNMI last week and conducted an on-the-spot audit of a poker parlor and found out that most of the machines no longer meets new certifications because most of the machines are already “old.”

According to Deleon Guerrero, the oldest machines were manufactured in 1985, while the most current machine was manufactured in 1991.

Deleon Guerrero said the vendors or manufacturers of these machines also no longer conduct on-site certifications.

Aside from regulating the casino industry, the casino commission’s jurisdiction will also include poker and pachinko machines and e-gaming in general.

Deleon Guerrero said the commission can expect to “be busy” with the audit, once it begins and that more manpower will be needed.

Currently, the license fee per poker machine on Saipan is $12,500, but the law prohibits the issuance of licenses for these machines starting April of this year. The law will only allow new machines to be used exclusively inside approved establishments including hotels and casinos. The purpose of the law is to stop the proliferation of poker parlors or poker rooms on the CNMI.

First provisional license

Deleon Guerrero, meanwhile, disclosed that the casino commission has issued the first provisional license for a casino vendor outside the CNMI.

The casino vendor will have now have a provisional license to provide its machines to Best Sunshine International, Ltd. Deleon Guerrero said Konami Gaming, a global company, met the commission’s requirements. Konami Gaming also paid the $7,500 provisional license fee as required by the commission.

“We have one approved provisional license, but we received four responses so far,” Deleon Guerrero said.

A vendor wanting to conduct business with BSI needs a provisional license from the casino commission.