No additional tax for Saipan

A proposed additional 10 per cent tax on casino gaming revenue – directed at Imperial Pacific’s Best Sunshine-operated Saipan temporary casino – was deemed unnecessary by representatives of the Commonwealth Casino Commission on Saipan, as reported by Marianas Variety. The gaming commissioners on Tuesday fielded questions from lawmakers including how much gross revenue tax the group has paid since beginning operations.
Best Sunshine, the subsidiary of Imperial Pacific, operates a temporary casino facility on the island of Sampan for which it holds an exclusive casino licence. The group, noted the Commission’s Executive Director Edward Deleon Guerrero, currently pays for the licence fee, a gross gaming tax, the business gross revenue tax and regulatory fees, says the publication.
Guerrero told lawmakers that he was not defending Sunshine, suggesting, however, that now might not be best time to implement the tax.
“Let’s give them a year after the Grand Mariana is completed,” Guerrero was quoted as saying to lawmakers, referring to the Grand Mariana Resort Hotel in Garapan set to open in early 2017. The Grand Mariana, a US$500 million property, will be the first permanent facility in the islands for the group, which saw rolling chip turnover in its temporary casino for June slide 35 per cent in July month-on-month – yet still reach US$1.66 billion (HK$12.85 billion).