Imperial Pacific Sees Strong VIP Revenue In Saipan Casino

Hong Kong-based Imperial Pacific International Holdings Ltd had declared in its filing to the Honk Kong stock exchange that gaming operations at its temporary casino in the Saipan has reached its saturation level and may not grow further. The temporary casino which opened in November 2015 is located in Saipan, a Pacific island that is a part of the U.S. Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI).

According to unaudited results released for the first quarter of 2016 for the casino, the average VIP table game rolling chip turnover was US$2.0 billion per month, which was an increase of 30 percent over the average turnover in November and December 2015. The temporary casino offers 16 VIP gaming tables and 32 mass tables and is expected to operate until the Grand Mariana Casino and Hotel Resort which is under construction opens in the first quarter of 2017.

According to company officials the declaration of saturation was made as a cautionary measure since the revenue in the last three months had been beyond expectations. Since November 2015, around 200 top high rollers have visited the casino in Saipan with many of them returning regularly. Mark Brown, who is the CEO of Best Sunshine International, the subsidiary of Imperial Pacific which operates the temporary casino said that the declaration was made only because the company was not sure that the trend in the casino’s revenue would continue.

Brown stated that the casino had achieved the revenue without junket partnerships as the player credit arrangements were dealt with by the casino itself. Since Saipan belongs to the American Commonwealth, facilities on the island come under the preview of U.S. financial authorities who have been carefully monitoring the casino industry for money laundering activities. According to Brown, this has added to the attraction of the Saipan casino as VIP gamblers admit to feeling safe and confident that they wouldn’t be cheated.

VIP gamblers continue to visit the Saipan casino even though there is no five star hotel on the property for them to stay. Brown and his staff have improvised by providing these VIPs gamblers and their families renovated five-bedroom houses and yachts during their stay. He stated that this unique accommodation experience was one of the main reasons why VIP gamblers kept coming back.

In a statement, Brown said,

They love going fishing, they love going out on the boat, they love staying on the yacht. They love staying up in the villa and just having that treatment of dinner. If we just had one of the existing hotels and our little temporary casino, we wouldn’t be doing these numbers.

Adrian Sterne

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