Imperial Pacific says Saipan casino at saturation point

Wednesday 4th of May 2016

Hong Kong-listed Imperial Pacific said its temporary casino on the island of Saipan has reached saturation point after pulling in a total VIP table games roll of $6.1 billion in the first quarter.

The intake averaged about $2 billion a month. That was up about 30 percent from the average in the first two months of operation. Unaudited gross gaming revenue in Q1 was $186 million.

“Following the launch of VIP gaming operations of the Temporary Casino in November 2015, the Board has taken into account the unaudited VIP table games rolling for the past six months, the actual operational scale and service reception capability of the Temporary Casino as well as the number of hotels situated in Saipan,” the company said in a Hong Kong Stock Exchange filing. “The Board anticipates that the VIP gaming operations will cease to grow and have become saturated prior to the completion of the town hotel, Grand Mariana Casino and Hotel Resort, located at Garapan, Saipan by late 2016,” it said.

The temporary casino is now operating a total of 16 VIP tables, up from 12 at the year end, though its mass tables have dropped to 32 from 34. It reported a drop for mass table games of $26.9 million.

Imperial Pacific has said it plans to invest about $7 billion on its integrated resort project on Saipan.

Bricks & Mortar Temporary casino CNMI Saturation GGR VIP