The Saipan casino operation of Imperial Pacific International Holdings Ltd achieved in August rolling chip volume of about US$1.55 billion, the firm said on Friday in a filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
It was the second lowest monthly rolling chip tally for Imperial Pacific since the firm’s US$25-million temporary casino (pictured) officially began operations in November. The only time the company had reported a lower monthly rolling chip volume number was in December last year, when the figure was US$1.44 billion.
Imperial Pacific has the right to an exclusive casino licence on Saipan, the main island of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. The casino licence was granted to Best Sunshine International Ltd, a subsidiary of Imperial Pacific.
The firm’s temporary casino had a total of 16 VIP gaming tables and 32 mass tables at the end of June.
The monthly VIP roll at the operation hit a high of US$3.19 billion in April. The following month, Imperial Pacific said that its VIP gaming operations in Saipan had reached saturation. “The board anticipates that the VIP gaming operations will cease to grow and have become saturated,” the firm said at the time.
The company is currently developing a permanent casino, to be known as Imperial Pacific Resort. The property was previously referred to in filings as “Grand Mariana Casino and Hotel Resort”.
Imperial Pacific stated last month – in its unaudited interim report for the six months to June 30 – it hoped to inaugurate the permanent casino resort “by 2017 Chinese New Year”. The firm added that the property would be opened in stages. The Chinese New Year holiday period in 2017 starts on January 28.
Imperial Pacific additionally said that the property’s casino would feature around “200 to 300 gaming tables” and “300 to 400 slot machines”. The 350-suite resort is being designed by architecture practice Steelman Partners LLP, which has been involved in the design of several large casinos in Asia and elsewhere.
For the first half of 2016, Imperial Pacific reported revenue of HKD3.99 billion (US$515 million): over 99.5 percent came from gaming operations at its temporary casino.
