Commonwealth Casino Commission requests US$3.1m budget
The CCC says the funds are needed to accomplish its duties and responsibilities effectively.
Northern Mariana Islands.- The CCC has submitted a budget request of US$3.1m for the fiscal year 2026. At the CCC’s regular monthly meeting, chairman Edward C. Deleon Guerrero said the funds were needed to allow the commission to accomplish its duties and responsibilities effectively and efficiently as mandated by Public Law 18-56, which legalised casino gaming on Saipan, as amended by P.L. 19-24 and P.L. 21-38.
The proposed budget includes US$2,343,566 for personnel costs and US$806,434 for operational expenses. The commission also intends to hire 50 full-time employees, the same number of employees it had in previous annual appropriations.
According to Mariana’s Variety, Deleon Guerrero said that the CCC understood the current situation of the CNMI’s gaming industry and saw a need to update the laws. Regarding the possibility of online gambling, he said the CCC would need more resources to regulate.
The CCC has been without income since the closure of Imperial Pacific International (IPI), which halted casino operations in March 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Since then, the CCC has not collected its annual regulatory fee of US$3.15m.
IPI filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last April, citing debts of over US$165.8m. Among the company’s largest unsecured creditors are the CNMI Treasury, MCC International, the CCC, the law offices of Hughes Hubbard & Reed, Century Estate Investment, CNMI Division of Revenue and Taxation and Joshua Gray with claims ranging from US$5.68m to US$62m.
