Imperial Pacific fights for its Saipan casino monopoly

Imperial Pacific is willing to “vigorously defend” its exclusive Saipan casino licence as reports suggesting company’s failure to pay its annual fee could open doors for new competition  

Imperial Pacific International Holdings Limited is a Hong Kong listed company headquartered in Hong Kong. In 2015 , it started operating as the only integrated resort in Saipan, with casinos, luxury hotels, restaurants, retail shops and leisure facilities. 

However, there have recently been reports that Imperial Pacific asked the Commonwealth Casino Commission (CCC) of the Northern Mariana Islands to reduce its annual gambling license fee of 15.5 million US. 

Due to the global pandemic of COVID-19, international flights to Saipan are not expected to resume operations until January 2021 and the entire tourism industry may not restart until May 2021. In other words, in the next eight months, Imperial Pacific is likely to stay closed with no income.

Nevertheless, this request was quickly rejected by CCC. Michael W Dotts, the general counsel of Imperial Pacific. He pointed out that the company’s financial difficulties may cause it to lose its exclusive license. But the company will have to do everything to defend its exclusive gambling franchise in Saipan. 

‘Imperial Pacific believes that all gambling-related businesses, including video games and electronic games, should belong to the exclusive franchise held by the company and be supervised by the Commonwealth Casino Commission.’ 

‘Imperial Pacific sincerely calls on the government to keep its promise and integrate all gaming projects into one monitoring framework. ‘ 

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