{"id":777001571,"date":"2023-01-17T10:31:48","date_gmt":"2023-01-17T13:31:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777001571"},"modified":"2026-04-23T01:28:50","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T04:28:50","slug":"edward-c-deleon-guerrero-the-cnmi-needs-a-casino-industry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/edward-c-deleon-guerrero-the-cnmi-needs-a-casino-industry","title":{"rendered":"Edward C. Deleon Guerrero: “The CNMI needs a casino industry”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Commonwealth Casino Commission chairman Edward C. Deleon Guerrero said the casino industry can significantly improve business activities in the territory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Northern Mariana Islands.- During the\u00a0Commonwealth Casino Commission\u2019<\/a>s monthly meeting, its Chairman\u00a0Edward C. Deleon Guerrero\u00a0<\/strong>pointed out that CNMI needs a casino industry that complements its tourism market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Mariana’s Variety, he also noted that part of the casino licence agreement is a requirement to build tourism-oriented integrated resorts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Deleon Guerrero added the casino industry could significantly increase business activity and generate revenue, enabling the CNMI government to meet its obligations. However, he stressed that casino regulation needs to be tightened for the industry to move forward and thrive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For his part, Commission Executive Director Andrew Yeom <\/strong>reported that the new government’s transition team visited the CCC offices in December 2022 and conducted a comprehensive review.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeom said they briefed the transition team, headed by Joe Rios<\/strong> and including Patrick Sablan<\/strong> and Julie Omar<\/strong>, on the history of the CNMI gaming industry, and a number of issues it is currently facing, including ongoing litigation, gaming legislation, licensing agreements, and the commission’s enforcement actions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The CCC is currently dealing with the uncertain outlook of Imperial Pacific International (IPI). The casino operator is currently\u00a0looking for investors<\/a>\u00a0to help it reopen its casino in Saipan. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last November, the CCC reported that its revenue for the fiscal year 2022<\/a> was $15,001. One dollar was the commission\u2019s share of CNMI revenue appropriated from the general fund, while $15,000 was the \u201cother regulatory fee\u201d paid by casino operator Imperial Pacific International\u2019s vendors and service providers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The CCC reported it spent a total of $1,016,613: $561,795 in employee salaries and benefits, $277,461 in executive compensation, $53,240 in operating expenses, $120,000 in office rent, and $9,117 in travel expenses. From an original team of 50, the regulator currently has just 10 employees <\/strong>left, in addition to the commissioners.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Commonwealth Casino Commission chairman Edward C. Deleon Guerrero said the casino industry can significantly improve business activities in the territory.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":20377,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"The Commonwealth Casino Commission (CCC) chairman emphasizes the critical need for a robust, tourism-integrated casino industry in the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), contingent on tightened regulatory frameworks. The CCC faces significant operational challenges, including a substantial deficit and reduced staffing, while grappling with the uncertain future of Imperial Pacific International (IPI) and its search for new investment.","focusai_entities":"Edward C. Deleon Guerrero, Commonwealth Casino Commission, Andrew Yeom, Joe Rios, Patrick Sablan, Julie Omar, Imperial Pacific International","focusai_location":"Northern Mariana Islands, Saipan","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (0.9), operator_casino (0.9), investor_analyst (0.9), supplier_vendor (0.8), journalist_researcher (0.9)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"CCC Financial Viability?","query":"Given the Commonwealth Casino Commission's significant operational deficit and reduced staffing, what is the long-term viability of its regulatory oversight capacity in the CNMI, and what measures are being considered to ensure its financial sustainability?"},{"label":"Regulatory Tightening Impact?","query":"What specific regulatory tightening measures are being considered by the CCC, and how might these impact potential new entrants or existing operators like Imperial Pacific International, particularly concerning B2B\/B2C licensing and governance frameworks?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[16336,157],"tags":[21613,24134],"class_list":["post-777001571","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-australasia-news","category-business-news","tag-commonwealth-casino-commission","tag-imperial-pacific-international"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777001571","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=777001571"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777001571\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777001572,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777001571\/revisions\/777001572"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20377"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777001571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777001571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777001571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}