Imperial Pacific International Holdings Ltd, a company that has pledged to spend as much as US$7 billion on a casino resort on the Pacific island of Saipan (pictured), said in a Friday filing that it would launch and operate a “temporary casino” there in the third quarter.
“The licensee expects to launch and operate the temporary casino in the third quarter of 2015 and construction work for the two town hotels (including the gaming facilities in the phase 1 town hotel) would commence in the third quarter of 2015 and would fully complete within 16 months,” added the filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. One of its units holds a casino licence for the main island in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. The latter is a U.S. Pacific territory with commonwealth status similar to Puerto Rico.
One of the hotels to be constructed would have 250 rooms certified to 5-star standard, said a May filing from the company. The casino would have 2,200 square metres of space excluding back of house areas, it added.
The firm said in previous filings that it would “seek legal advice” before starting operations at the temporary casino in order to comply with all applicable laws and listing rules of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The project was also subject to oversight by CNMI’s Casino Commission “for proper regulation of the temporary casino and the Saipan Casino Law,” the company added in a filing in March.
Imperial Pacific started life as a frozen food business before acquiring the rights to a profit stream from a Macau junket investor.
