{"id":777024677,"date":"2025-03-31T09:44:37","date_gmt":"2025-03-31T12:44:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777024677"},"modified":"2026-04-22T00:19:45","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T03:19:45","slug":"commonwealth-casino-commission-requests-us3-1m-budget","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/commonwealth-casino-commission-requests-us3-1m-budget","title":{"rendered":"Commonwealth Casino Commission requests US$3.1m budget"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
The CCC says the funds are needed to accomplish its duties and responsibilities effectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
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<\/strong> Guerrero <\/strong>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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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<\/a>, he said the CCC would need more resources to regulate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The CCC has been without income<\/strong> 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n IPI filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last April<\/a>, citing debts of over US$165.8m. Among the company\u2019s 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<\/a> with claims ranging from US$5.68m to US$62m.<\/p>\n\n\n