Saipan casino bill up for House vote today

House floor leader Ralph Demapan (Cov-Saipan) will formally introduce in this afternoon’s session his bill legalizing casino gaming on Saipan, adding that he will “respectfully ask members to have it placed on calendar for action today” given the need to keep the ball rolling in finding ways to generate new revenues to restore retirees’ 25 percent pension cut, pay interest on retirement contributions, payment into the retirement settlement trust fund, and continuously fund public services.

“Time is of the essence. We can’t allow the 25 percent pension cut to continue. This is a major revenue-generating bill that will help restore that,” Demapan said.

A leadership meeting will be held this morning, in time for the 1:30pm House session.

Demapan, along with Rep. Felicidad Ogumoro (R-Saipan), prefiled House Bill 18-179 on Feb. 20, on the heels of legal challenges faced by the Senate in trying to reconsider a Saipan casino bill that it shelved three months ago.

That shelved Saipan casino bill in the Senate passed the House in June last year by a vote of 13-7.

Rep. Edmund Villagomez (Cov-Saipan) said last night that should the bill come to a vote today, “my vote will be ‘no.’”

Villagomez was among the seven who voted “no” to a similar bill last year, along with now acting speaker Frank Dela Cruz (Ind-Saipan), Reps. Roman Benavente (Ind-Saipan), Trenton Conner (Ind-Tinian), Janet Maratita (Ind-Saipan), Ray Tebuteb (Ind-Saipan), and Ralph Yumul (Ind-Saipan). There’s no telling whether the others would maintain their “no” vote this time around.

The latest Saipan casino bill is the fourth legislation of its kind to be introduced in four years, each of them rejected by the Senate in one form or another. But Demapan said “things have changed over the past months,” including the approved retirement settlement agreement and pension cut.

Senate President Ralph Torres (R-Saipan), who used to be lukewarm on a Saipan casino bill, echoed Demapan’s statement on the government’s growing obligations the past months that require new revenue sources.

Unlike previous Saipan casino bills, the current one only allows one casino license holder on Saipan because the CNMI was already able to enact other revenue-generating laws legalizing video lottery and electronic gaming, although they have yet to yield revenue as of today.

The proposed Saipan casino license requires $30 million payment upfront, and $15 million every year thereafter until the duration of the license. Each license is for 25 years, with the option to extend for another 15 years or a total of 40 years. This means the license alone could cost some $600 million in a 40-year period, and this still excludes the business gross revenue, other taxes and fees, plus the multiplier effect in the economy. The casino application fee alone is $1 million.

Legalizing casino operations on Saipan has been a divisive issue in the CNMI for several years now. Casino initiatives were rejected twice before by Saipan voters. Casino gambling is legal only on Rota and Tinian; the latter being home to Tinian Dynasty Hotel and Casino.