Even with a threat of lawsuit, the House of Representatives\u2019 most vocal casino proponent vows to champion the revenue-generating measure and even promised that a fully developed casino industry on Saipan could bring in as much as $500 million annually to the Commonwealth.<\/p>\n
\u201cFully developed easily $500 million a year in revenues,\u201d said Rep. Froilan Tenorio (Cov-Saipan) in an interview with Saipan Tribune.<\/p>\n
He said the CNMI can no longer depend on what worked in the past when \u201csun and sand to go swimming\u201d was all it took to entice tourists to the islands.<\/p>\n
\u2018There\u2019s nothing more attractive than casinos. Right now, we don\u2019t have to build more new hotels if we just depend on the regular tourists\u2014tourists that come here just to relax and go swimming. We don\u2019t need new facilities anymore. [But] once we have casinos the casinos will attract all the new investments, first-class investments,\u201d said Tenorio.<\/p>\n
The first-term congressman said a fully developed casino industry would lure high-rollers to Saipan and invigorate the battered economy. \u201cOnce we have casinos, the high-rollers will come over here with $30,000, $40,000, and $50,000 in their pockets.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tenorio said casino investors will not only bring gambling to Saipan but family entertainment as well.<\/p>\n
He made an example of Las Vegas and said that Saipan can have multiple Sandcastles only if gambling is allowed on the island, referring to the magic and vaudeville show at the Hyatt Regency Saipan.<\/p>\n
It is also his hope that once casino operations are approved, the son of Macau casino magnate Stanley Ho will visit and explore opportunities on Saipan.<\/p>\n
House Speaker Eli D. Cabrera (R-Saipan) said the CNMI should put in mind that U.S. investors\u2019 licenses in Macau will expire in 10 years and geographically the Commonwealth could be an ideal place to relocate their businesses.<\/p>\n
\u201cGuess where they want to go? They know their players, they know their high-rollers. [We] are hoping they can relocate here,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Rep. Stanley M. Torres\u2019 (Ind-Saipan) House Local Bill 17-44, which seek to legalize casino operations on Saipan, is pending at the Saipan and Northern Islands Legislative Delegation. Its chairman, Ramon Tebuteb (R-Saipan) said he will convene the delegation once amendments to Torres\u2019 bill are finalized.<\/p>\n
Senate President Paul A. Manglona (R-Saipan), meanwhile, said that rumors of the upper chamber willing to compromise with the Saipan delegation on the casino bill are false.<\/p>\n
\u201cI never had a meeting with Froilan Tenorio. I don\u2019t know about the Senate compromising with the House on the Saipan casino bill because I haven\u2019t met with any House members. If they ever push for this we will follow through with our promise to file a lawsuit. We will get a lawyer to challenge that local bill in the courts,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Cabrera said it is the Senate\u2019s prerogative to file a lawsuit against the delegation, adding that he will not go against what Saipan lawmakers want if the local casino bill has the votes.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf SNILD has the votes, what can we do, what can I say,\u201d he said, but added that the CNMI\u2019s revenue is down to $102 million and that\u2019s optimistic. \u201cI hope we can collect that much. The way it is now, it\u2019s just almost impossible to find new money.\u201d<\/p>\n
Acting Gov. Eloy S. Inos said he wants to see amendments to Torres\u2019 bill before he can comment on the casino bill.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt this point is still under deliberation. I\u2019m waiting to see what kind of recommendation they will come up with. At least I want to see a draft of the recommendations and whatever amendments that they plan to do on the bill.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Even with a threat of lawsuit, the House of Representatives\u2019 most vocal casino proponent vows to champion the revenue-generating measure and even promised that a fully developed casino industry on Saipan could bring in as much as $500 million annually to the Commonwealth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-153687","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153687","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=153687"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153687\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=153687"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=153687"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=153687"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}