Marianas Variety<\/em> reports that Senate Bill 22-72 (SB 22-72) would suspend the salaries of Commonwealth Casino Commission members until the CNMI can figure out what to do next.<\/p>\n<\/div>\nThere are five commissioners in the CCC. Each earns $65,000 a year. That adds up to $325,000 a year, which was supposed to be covered by the payments made by IPI for Imperial Palace. One of the five commissioners resigned last year but still had to be paid.<\/p>\n
Given that the operator owes more than $38 million to the commonwealth, any out-of-pocket government expense is a burden on the people. SB 22-72 would change the law so that commissioners would only be paid when a casino is open. When there is no casino activity, they would receive $60 for a full-day meeting and $30 for a half-day meeting. The annual compensation would be capped at $6,000 per individual.<\/p>\n
Approval of the Bill Likely<\/h2>\n
In the middle of last month, Manglona presented similar legislation for the CNMI island of Rota. It covered the Rota Casino Gaming Commission and established the same parameters.<\/p>\n
The Rota Legislative Delegation unanimously approved that bill before sending it to CNMI Governor Ralph DLG Torres. It is still waiting for his approval.<\/strong><\/p>\nAll of the troubles caused by IPI have led to initiatives to open the local gaming market to more than one license. However, it was determined last month that any such move would be unconstitutional<\/a>. In the meantime, IPI’s bills continue to mount and the CNMI continues to lose.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Imperial Palace is the only licensed casino in Saipan, and has been closed for almost two years. A new legislative bill would strip regulators of their salaries, since no casino is currently open. At one point, the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) had high hopes for Imperial Palace. The casino in Saipan was going […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":64,"featured_media":199969,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[69069,13],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Saipan Casino Regulator Salaries Should End With Imperial Palace Closed, Lawmaker Says - Casino.org<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n