{"id":10713,"date":"2020-10-07T21:31:39","date_gmt":"2020-10-07T21:31:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=10713"},"modified":"2026-04-24T01:11:51","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T04:11:51","slug":"ipi-proposes-splitting-licence-fee-payment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/ipi-proposes-splitting-licence-fee-payment","title":{"rendered":"IPI proposes splitting licence fee payment"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The operator wants to pay half in 10 days&#8217; time three payments in 2021 to comply with its agreement.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p>Northern Mariana&nbsp;Islands.-&nbsp;Imperial Pacific International (IPI) has proposed splitting the US$15.5 million payment it owes for its casino licence.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The operator said it is willing to pay&nbsp;US$7.75&nbsp;million&nbsp;in a&nbsp;10 days&#8217; time and the remaining US$7.75 million in February 2021.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It would then pay next year&#8217;s fee, for seventh year of its casino licence agreement, with US$7.75 million on August 12, 2021, and the remainder of  in the second half of the year.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If the proposal is accepted by the\u00a0Commonwealth Lottery Commission, IPI would resume full annual US$15.5 million payments in 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Commission would have to amend IPI\u2019s casino licence agreement for the ninth time for the initiative to move forward.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>IPI was due to pay its <strong><em><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/ipi-served-notice-on-casino-licence\" target=\"_blank\">US$15.5 million fee for this year on August 12<\/a><\/em><\/strong>. The operator requested postponement of the payment in light of the Covid-19 pandemic.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The firm also requested the Commission reduce its US$$3 million regulatory fee to US$1 million, arguing that without gaming operations it required less oversight. It also asked to postpone its 2020 payment to the islands&#8217; community benefit fund.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In its request, IPI informed the Commission that it will&nbsp;complete 350 rooms in three years for&nbsp;the Imperial Palace Resort in Marpi. In Phase 1, the complex is due to have 2,000 hotel rooms finished&nbsp;within five years.&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The operator wants to pay half in 10 days&#8217; time three payments in 2021 to comply with its agreement.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10715,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"Imperial Pacific International (IPI) has proposed a phased payment plan for its US$15.5 million casino licence fee in the Northern Mariana Islands, seeking to defer payments and reduce its regulatory fee due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The proposal, which includes an initial US$7.75 million payment within 10 days and subsequent installments in 2021, requires the Commonwealth Lottery Commission to amend IPI's licence agreement for the ninth time. IPI also requested a reduction in its US$3 million regulatory fee to US$1 million, citing reduced oversight needs without gaming operations, and a postponement of its community benefit fund payment.","focusai_entities":"Imperial Pacific International (IPI), Commonwealth Lottery Commission, Imperial Palace Resort","focusai_location":"Northern Mariana Islands, Marpi","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (0.9), operator_casino (0.9), investor_analyst (0.9), journalist_researcher (0.9)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"IPI Financial Viability?","query":"What is the Commonwealth Lottery Commission's assessment of Imperial Pacific International's long-term financial viability, considering these repeated requests for payment deferrals and fee reductions?"},{"label":"Regulatory Precedent Impact?","query":"What precedent would the ninth amendment to IPI's casino licence agreement set for other distressed operators seeking similar regulatory concessions in the Northern Mariana Islands or other jurisdictions?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[16336,28],"tags":[14213,23703,4024],"class_list":["post-10713","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-australasia-news","category-casino-news","tag-imperial-pacific","tag-licence","tag-saipan"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10713","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10713"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10713\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19719,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10713\/revisions\/19719"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10715"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10713"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10713"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}