Gov. Eloy S. Inos said yesterday that among the potential sites on Saipan for a minimum $2 billion integrated resort with a casino is the current location of Hopwood Junior High School in Chalan Piao, with the investor funding the school relocation costs. However, everything still depends on whether the Lottery Commission will grant Best Sunshine International Ltd. an exclusive casino license on or before June 19.<\/p>\n
The governor said if and when a casino license is granted and the $30 million in escrow is released, retirees could expect to get their deferred 25 percent pension by end June or July.<\/p>\n
House Speaker Joseph Deleon Guerrero (Ind-Saipan) said if a casino license is granted, the $30 million is expected to cover retirees\u2019 deferred 25-percent pension, and \u201cabout 90 percent\u201d of interest on retirement contribution withdrawals.<\/p>\n
At the same time, Inos said commission consultants are \u201cahead of schedule\u201d as the number of applicants is \u201cdown to one.\u201d<\/p>\n
Inos was among those who attended the public presentation of Best Sunshine\u2019s business plan on Tuesday. He said the decision rests with the Lottery Commission, not him.<\/p>\n
He hopes that there won\u2019t be major issues affecting the applicant\u2019s \u201csuitability\u201d to operate a casino on Saipan.<\/p>\n
The Lottery Commissioned hired two U.S. based consultants to help evaluate Best Sunshine\u2019s application: casino investigator B2G Global Strategies and gaming consultant The Innovation Group of Companies.<\/p>\n
When asked whether he has outstanding concerns about the application process, the governor cited the \u201cissue of the Marianas Stars, that may or may not have met the deadline and so forth.\u201d<\/p>\n
The four-member Lottery Commission chaired by Commerce Secretary Sixto Igisomar rejected Marianas Stars Entertainment Inc.\u2019s application, citing the investor\u2019s failure to timely deposit $30 million in escrow as required by law.<\/p>\n
Marianas Stars is seeking reconsideration of the commission\u2019s decision, and the latter granted the investor\u2019s request for a meeting today.<\/p>\n
\u201cI understand the commission\u2019s position, but I also understand that they are willing to give them a chance to make whatever presentation they wanted to make, notwithstanding the deadline\u2026keeping in mind that the deadline is still a deadline. Unless something is changed, the decision remains,\u201d the governor said.<\/p>\n
As to the possible location of an integrated resort on Saipan should a casino license is approved, the governor echoed Department of Public Lands Secretary Pete A. Tenorio\u2019s recommendation for the investor to look for private properties first before setting their sight on public lands. Inos said his administration would like private landowners to directly benefit from the project.<\/p>\n
But because of the magnitude of the project\u2014at least 2,000 rooms and a minimum $2 billion integrated resort\u2014there are hardly any private land available on Saipan that can accommodate the project. But he said depending on the investor, it can use private lands and public lands adjacent to each other.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor example, the only thing I can think of is maybe Hopwood [Junior] High School but that requires the relocation of the school,\u201d he said, adding that the investor will have to fund the relocation of the school. Hopwood is in a beach area, which is preferred for an integrated resort development.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Gov. Eloy S. Inos said yesterday that among the potential sites on Saipan for a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[900,4],"tags":[56],"class_list":["post-35879","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-featured","category-local-news","tag-business-3"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35879","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\/35"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35879"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35879\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35879"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35879"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35879"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}