CCC board chair responds to accusations of “substandard” casino regulation

Edward C DeLeon Guerrero has invited lawmakers to explain which parts of the CCC’s work is substandard.

Northern Mariana Islands.- The Commonwealth Casino Commission (CCC) chairman Edward C. Deleon Guerrero has responded after lawmaker Marissa Renee Flores described the commission’s work as ineffective and substandard. F

Flores made these comments at the ASEAN Gaming Summit in Manila. According to Saipan Tribune, she said she believed the casino operator Imperial Pacific International was “a terrible company and that CCC had horrible leadership.”

Guerrero said he had never heard the CCC described in such a way and that the CCC was set up to enforce Public Law 18-56. He invited any policymaker who shared Flores’s opinion to visit the CCC to share their thoughts. 

He said the CCC had worked for many months with the Office of the Attorney General to review gaming regulations in Nevada, New Jersey, Ohio, and Michigan. He said the CCC used the Nevada model as a platform, making some modifications. 

Guerrero also stressed that poker and e-gaming required different regulations from other casino games and that the CCC had to implement minimum internal control standards that covered more than 800 pages of standard operating procedures. 

He said he was in favour of education and training for policymakers and that CCC was available to assist in improving understanding of the casino industry.

In January, the CCC suspended its regulatory operations due to a lack of funding due to IPI’s failure to pay its licence fees. At the CCC’s regular monthly meeting, Guerrero said the regulator’s bank account contains a very small amount. He told the Saipan Tribune: “As of now, we don’t have any. We are out, that’s why all the staff have been released.”