The government will launch an all-out enforcement operation against illegal poker operators CNMI-wide to enhance collections and discourage the proliferation of unlicensed poker arcades in the Commonwealth.<\/p>\n
Finance Secretary Fermin M. Atalig and Commerce Secretary Andrew Salas signed a new memorandum of agreement yesterday, setting forth the specific functions of Finance that are transferred now to Commerce.<\/p>\n
Salas said that after 30 days, the government would know how many poker arcades are operating illegally.<\/p>\n
He said his department would ensure that only licensed machines are being used.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter 30 days, we\u2019d know who are illegally operating and who are not,\u201d said the secretary in a press briefing at the Governor\u2019s Office yesterday morning.<\/p>\n
He said that Commerce enforcement staff\u2014numbering about 10 to 12 personnel\u2014would not close down illegal shops but only issue a notice of violation.<\/p>\n
He said violators would be given a chance to rectify the problem, including a hearing.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll not shut down poker shops. We want them to be operate legally,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He said his personnel would be \u201cambassadors of business.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re not anti-business. We\u2019re pro-business,\u201d said Salas.<\/p>\n
There are 1,300 poker machines in the CNMI.<\/p>\n
Atalig said in a separate interview that he believes that the poker industry can still afford the proposed $6,000 fee increase per machine for fiscal year 2006. He admitted, though, that only the major operators may survive.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose who are less competitive are going wayside,\u201d said Atalig. \u201cI don\u2019t [want to] speak on behalf of the governor but I think that\u2019s one way at least lessen the proliferation of poker machines.\u201d<\/p>\n
Salas and Atalig said that they have no personal interests in poker. \u201cWe don\u2019t [even] play poker,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n
The Commerce-Finance MOA mandates Commerce to enforce the following:
\n* all poker machines are to have a numbered tag on the top right-hand corner;<\/p>\n
* licensed establishments, except hotels and motels, must segregate poker machines in a separate room;<\/p>\n
* no admission of minors (under 18 years old) and no alcohol use in poker shops;<\/p>\n
* operation of poker arcades must be from 10am to 10pm daily unless the shop has a uniformed security guard on duty.<\/p>\n
Atalig earlier said that due to lack of personnel, Finance had to transfer certain functions to Commerce. He said Finance only has two personnel assigned to go after poker operators.<\/p>\n
This situation, he said, has resulted in the government collecting poker and amusement revenues \u201cbelow expectations.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The government will launch an all-out enforcement operation against illegal poker operators CNMI-wide to enhance collections and discourage the proliferation of unlicensed poker arcades in 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-89628","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\/89628","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=89628"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89628\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}