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Law raises poker fees by 33%
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Posted on Dec 24 1998
Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio yesterday signed a bill into law raising by 33 percent to $8,000 the license fees for poker and pachinko slot machines on Saipan in a second round of increase aimed at boosting floundering revenue collections.
The additional $2,000 on license fees came after the Legislature removed restriction on the number of poker machines authorized to operate on the island.
The administration agreed to lift the cap provided that the annual fee for a license will be pegged at $8,000.
The financially-troubled government is hoping to generate $1.5 million with the new increase on top of the $6 million it previously anticipated to earn from the first hike that took effect middle of this year for the amusement machines.
Since the implementation of Public Law 11-25 that eased the ceiling on the poker machines on the island, Saipan was flooded with over 500 additional machines, almost double the number of previously licensed machines.
Around 244 poker machines were authorized to operate on the island prior to the enactment of the law.
The government is expecting to collect more than $3 million from licensing fees, which are funneled to the general fund, the Northern Marianas Retirement Fund and the Job Training and Partnership Act.
Proceeds from the new license fees will be used as a matching requirement for the Capital Improvement Projects expected to take off beginning next year as well as supplement shortfall in the budget of critical agencies.
The administration is confronted with the continuos decline in revenue collections because of the economic slowdown gripping the Northern Marianas with the onslaught of the currency crisis in Asia.
Because of the 13.4 percent anticipated drop in revenue collections, the governor has slashed spending plan for the current fiscal year by $32.5 percent to $216.75 million.
