Inside Asian Gaming

inside asian gaming July 2014 10 Cover Story be financed by a combination of institutional investors and “gaming industry practitioners”. Best Sunshine wants to make Saipan “the Monaco of the Pacific,” says COO Terence Tay, who was general counsel and head of corporate affairs for Genting Singapore when it developed Resorts World Sentosa, Singapore’s first gaming resort. It proposes an “iconic” resort with four hotels, shopping and entertainment to be developed in four phases, the first completed by 2018. Best Sunshine has asked the government for assistance locating suitable public or private land for the development. Mr Tay says that because of the delays inherent in planning and construction, Best Sunshine would like to find an existing facility that it can convert into a gaming hotel while building its resort. Critics say that statement telegraphed the group’s plan to open a casino and then delay other development plans indefinitely. Marianas Stars proposes a “Legend of the Ocean” theme park as the centerpiece of its development. In 2017, the park would open with 16 attractions alongside a 500-room five-star hotel, a casino with 100 table games and 200 machine games, a shopping mall and multipurpose venue for shows, conventions and exhibitions. Subsequent phases would add three more hotels, including one catering to “family and budget travelers,” according to Marianas Stars’ Web site, plus 10 additional Legend of the Ocean attractions and an expanded casino featuring 300 tables and 700 machines. A Saipan resort under its ownership will complement Tinian The Bidding Turns Ugly Rejecting House of Representatives bills to legalize gaming on Saipan had been routine for the Senate of the Commonwealth of Northern Marianas Islands, with senators from neighboring Tinian and Rota voting to protect legal casinos on those islands. But a 25% cut in government pension benefits and millions due a court-ordered pension settlement fund changed the script this year. In March, the House passed a legalization bill for Saipan, offering an exclusive license in exchange for a commitment to invest US$2 billion and develop 2,000 hotel rooms. Supporters were successful in tying casino licensing revenue to the future solvency of the pension fund, and the Senate took just over an hour to pass the bill within a day of receiving it, without public hearings or referral to a committee, despite pleas from some members for more time to review the 37- page legislation. “The government faced a dilemma, and someone offered a simple solution,” says Phillip Mendiola-Long, president of CNMI- based consultants Sherman Pacific. “The proponents’ fear of an economic catastrophe overwhelmed their sense of duty to do the right thing.” Mr Mendiola-Long’s clients include Bridge Investment Group, the developers behind an unlikely plan for a casino resort on Tinian themed, not ironically, around the Titanic. The legalization bill is now mired in controversy. The rush to pass the bill came after several legislators and Gov. Eloy Inos Visitors from mainland China to CNMI grew 43% in the fiscal year ended September 2013, making them the commonwealth’s third- biggest source market. Overall visitor arrivals rose 11% over the same period. This year, in February and again in May, China supplanted Japan and South Korea as CNMI’s top source of visitor arrivals. Mega Stars estimates Chinese tourist arrivals will reach 176,000 this year and 251,000 next year.