Imperial Pacific Resort to open 17Q1

Wednesday 4th of January 2017

IPI proposes paying half of license fee now, half later

Saipan casino operator Imperial Pacific International Holdings has seemingly pushed back the opening of its new casino resort to the first quarter of 2017, deferring its earlier planned CNY opening.

In a voluntary filing from the operator on Wednesday, the company said the “‘Imperial Pacific Resort’ will commence soft opening in the first quarter of 2017.” Previously, it had worded the opening to be “by Chinese New Year.”

In its recent filing, the operator also added that construction of the resort is going smoothly, “with over 2,000 workers working around-the-clock to ensure early completion.”

The casino resort will include more than 200 gaming tables and over 350 slot machines. The 14-storey hotel building will offer more than 340 opulent hotel suites including 15 deluxe villas.

Earlier this week, the Saipan casino operator posted US$32.4 billion in unaudited VIP table games rolling chip turnover for the full-year 2016.

While VIP revenues have remained strong throughout the year, the operator hit a snag after it was revealed that a bond offering that it was planning to use to fund construction of its Saipan casino had been put on hold.

According to the news outlet, the firm had planned to raise between US$200 million to US$400 million, but investors wanted a higher yield than the 10-11 percent that that company was willing to offer, said sources quoted by Bloomberg.

Bricks & Mortar Opening