Imperial Pacific wins extensions on its temp, permanent casinos

Saipan casino operator Imperial Pacific International Holdings (IPI) has been granted extensions on deadlines for both its temporary and permanent gaming venues.

On Tuesday, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) Lottery Commission granted IPI an extension of the August 11, 2017 deadline for completing the casino portion of its in-development Imperial Pacific Resort (pictured) in Saipan’s Garapan region. The new casino must now be completed by August 31, 2018.

The Commission also approved IPI’s request to extend the operations of its Best Sunshine Live ‘temporary’ casino in Garapan’s T Galleria shopping mall. Best Sunshine was supposed to shut down on April 30, but has now been granted permission to operate until August 31, 2018.

IPI submitted its extension requests in February, citing construction delays caused by 2015’s Typhoon Soudelor and a shortage of trained workers. That latter factor has caused IPI no shortage of bad ink following the detention of nearly 200 illegal Chinese workers at the construction site, a scandal that IPI has blamed on its main contractor.