Casino operator Imperial Pacific International Holdings Ltd. has announced that its casino-resort project on the island of Saipan will open before the Chinese New Year period at end-January next year. ‘The Board aims to commence opening of the Imperial Pacific Resort by 2017 Chinese New Year with the opening of the hotel tower by the end of March 2017,’ it said in a filing with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Monday night. The integrated resort, previously named the Grand Mariana Casino and Hotel Resort by the operator, is to offer 200 to 300 new gaming tables as well as 300 to 400 slot machines on the Pacific island. According to the filing, the operator has invested an additional US$83 million (HK$666.7 million) in design and construction of the new casino-resort, making a total investment in the property of US$143 million. ‘Topping out of the four storey podium that will eventually encase the casino was finished by the end of July 2016 and it is estimated that the same will be accomplished for the fourteen storey hotel tower by the end of October 2016,’ the operator said. Imperial Pacific’s gaming concession on the island, granted by the archipelago’s local authorities in August 2014, is under a local unit called Best Sunshine International Ltd. and carries a term of 25 years. Since last November, the operator has operated a so-called ‘temporary casino’ on the island. VIP dominance For the first half of the year, the company posted a net profit of HK$837.6 million (US$104.3 million) compared to a net loss of HK$168.8 million one year ago, according to the same filing releasing the company’s interim results. ‘The turnaround from loss to profit is mainly attributable to the gaming profit generated by the temporary casino,’ it said. During the six months, the operator’s casino revenue from the temporary casino amounted to nearly HK$4 billion, of which HK$3.82 billion was generated by its VIP segment. VIP rolling chip volume at the property amounted to HK$104.6 billion in the six-month period, with a win percentage of 3.65 per cent. According to the operator, most of its VIP patrons were from China, Hong Kong, Macau, and South Korea, in addition to Saipan. ‘The temporary casino has received significant VIP patron visits which would be favourable to the Group’s continued development,’ it remarked. As at the end of June, the company operated 16 VIP gaming tables, 32 mass gaming tables and 144 electronic table games and slot machines at the temporary casino. Revenue from the mass gaming tables reached HK$121.2 million during the first half of the year, while that derived from electronic table games and slot machines amounted to HK$26.8 million. For the future, the company said it would continue betting on the VIP segment. ‘Our efforts to grow the VIP business will continue to centre around enhancing the gaming experience of our customers,’ it said. ‘The Group shall continue to allocate most of its resources for development of the integrated resort on the Island of Saipan. In addition, the Group is also actively looking for other investment opportunities around the world to develop tourist resort facilities (including gaming facilities),’ the operator added. Meanwhile, the same filing revealed that the company had ceased its business of processing and trading food products in May of this year. The casino operator has not proposed any dividend for the period.
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