{"id":21529,"date":"2021-08-13T13:20:33","date_gmt":"2021-08-13T16:20:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=21529"},"modified":"2026-04-23T16:40:28","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T19:40:28","slug":"ipi-to-hire-local-workers-for-garapan-casino-construction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/ipi-to-hire-local-workers-for-garapan-casino-construction","title":{"rendered":"IPI to hire local workers for Garapan casino construction"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Imperial Pacific wants to hire local workers if the Commonwealth Lottery Commission finally approves a five-year extension to finish the new casino in Garapan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Northern Mariana Islands.- With the company unable to hire foreign workers,\u00a0Imperial Pacific International\u00a0<\/strong>is seeking locals to resume work on its new casinos in Garapan \u2013 if it gets the five-year extension it wants, that is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reddie Dela Cruz<\/strong>, IPI Human Resources director, said IPI only has about 40 employees at present, mostly assigned to security. She said that as\u00a0the company is facing an indefinite suspension of its gaming licence,<\/a> she doesn’t know where the money to resume construction will come from.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, she has said that the construction team has started talks with local contractors about hiring local workers<\/strong>\u00a0if IPI is finally allowed to finish its new IR. The venue was supposed to be\u00a0completed by February 28<\/a>\u00a0but failed to meet that deadline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tao Xing<\/strong>, IPI senior vice president of marketing and public affairs, said the company is still waiting for a response from the\u00a0Commonwealth Lottery Commission<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said the company had submitted a request in January to\u00a0Gov Ralph DLG Torres<\/strong>\u00a0but was told to resubmit it to the CLC as it had jurisdiction over IPI\u2019s request. According to Saipan Tribune, Xing resubmitted IPI\u2019s request to the CLC chairman on July 8.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, there have been doubts over who should make the decision as CCC counsel Michael Ernest<\/strong> argued it wasn\u2019t clear that the CCC had the authority to amend the current casino licence. He added that there is no current enforcement action against IPI regarding the completion date.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gaming companies file complaint against new licence fee<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Superior Court of the Northern Mariana Islands<\/strong> has received a complaint from Mariana Entertainment LLC and MP Holdings LLC, the owners of Club 88<\/strong> and Saipan Vegas Resort <\/strong>lodged against the Department of Finance<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The lawsuit has been lodged against a new law that doubles the islands\u2019 e-gaming licence fee<\/strong>. The companies warn that if the increased fee is not suspended, 70 of their employees will lose their jobs <\/strong>and the entire electronic gaming industry on Saipan will disappear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The law signed by Gov Ralph DLG Torres <\/strong>imposes an additional fee of 15 per cent on all electronic gaming devices on Saipan, including machines located within e-gaming facilities or hotels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The companies, via attorney Michael W. Dotts<\/strong>, stated: \u201cA declaratory judgment is necessary to determine the rights and obligations of the parties as to whether the licence fee can be lawfully assessed<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bill was proposed by Rep. Ralph Yumul<\/strong>, the brother of the CEO of Imperial Pacific International, a direct competitor to the slot parlour, which the e-gaming operators say causes a conflict of interest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Plaintiffs also argued that the Saipan local delegation did not give the Saipan Mayor\u2019s Office the required 30 days to review the bill<\/strong> before it was enacted.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Imperial Pacific wants to hire local workers if the Commonwealth Lottery Commission finally approves a five-year extension to finish the new casino in Garapan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":18727,"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) is seeking a five-year extension for its Garapan casino construction, facing licensing suspension, funding challenges, and a shift to local worker hiring, with regulatory authority disputes between the Commonwealth Lottery Commission and the Commonwealth Casino Commission. Concurrently, Mariana Entertainment LLC and MP Holdings LLC have filed a lawsuit against the Department of Finance over a new law doubling e-gaming license fees in Saipan, citing job losses, industry collapse, and an alleged conflict of interest involving the bill's proposer.","focusai_entities":"Imperial Pacific International, Reddie Dela Cruz, Tao Xing, Commonwealth Lottery Commission, Gov Ralph DLG Torres, Saipan Tribune, Michael Ernest, Mariana Entertainment LLC, MP Holdings LLC, Club 88, Saipan Vegas Resort, Department of Finance, Michael W. Dotts, Rep. Ralph Yumul, Saipan Mayor\u2019s Office","focusai_location":"Garapan, Northern Mariana Islands, Saipan","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.95), regulator (0.98), compliance_legal (0.97), operator_casino (0.95), investor_analyst (0.96), supplier_vendor (0.75), journalist_researcher (0.98)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"CLC\/CCC Authority Precedent?","query":"What is the established legal precedent or governance framework that delineates the Commonwealth Lottery Commission's (CLC) and Commonwealth Casino Commission's (CCC) respective authorities to amend existing casino license terms, particularly concerning construction completion deadlines and operational suspensions?"},{"label":"E-gaming GGR Impact?","query":"What is the projected Gross Gaming Revenue (GGR) impact on the Northern Mariana Islands' fiscal outlook if the e-gaming sector contracts or ceases operations due to the newly imposed license fees and additional device taxation?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[16336,28],"tags":[14213,22674],"class_list":["post-21529","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-australasia-news","category-casino-news","tag-imperial-pacific","tag-ipi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21529","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\/176"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21529"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21529\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21569,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21529\/revisions\/21569"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18727"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21529"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21529"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21529"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}