GGRAsia – Imperial Pacific reports record chip roll in Sept

Imperial Pacific reports record chip roll in Sept

Oct 04, 2016 Newsdesk Latest News, Top of the deck, World

Imperial Pacific International Holdings Ltd’s temporary casino on the Pacific island of Saipan generated VIP rolling of about US$3.95 billion in September. The Hong Kong-listed firm made the announcement on Sunday.

According to data previously provided by the company to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, this was the highest monthly rolling chip volume recorded by the property since it officially began operations in November. The previous record had been set in April, when monthly VIP roll at the operation hit a high of US$3.19 billion.

Rolling chip in September was up 155 percent compared with the previous month. Imperial Pacific provided no reason for the sharp month-on-month increase.

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 (pictured) had a total of 16 VIP gaming tables and 32 mass tables at the end of June.

In May, 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 in August – 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.