CHINA’S blacklisting of overseas gambling operations has prompted the Commonwealth Casino Commission to suspend the issuance of licenses for Imperial Pacific International’s junket operators.
According to Slots casino.co.uk, “Junket operators are best described as a mixture of a travel agency, VIP hospitality service, and semi-banking firms. These companies have the objective of reaching out to high rollers and [providing] them with specialized offers to come and gamble at a particular casino.”
During the recent casino commission’s hearing on enforcement actions against IPI, the commissioners issued Order 2021-003 that prohibits the issuance or renewal of licenses for junket activity.
The order also forbids the commission’s executive director from processing any application for a new license or license renewal.
As of Sept. 30, 2019, the number of IPI’s casino junket operator licenses went down from nine to three.
Order 2021-003 requires the casino commission’s executive director to contact the three present junket licensees and determine whether they wish to surrender their licenses given the present lack of gaming activity.
In light of the global Covid-19 pandemic, IPI shut down in March 2020.
According to the commission, casino junket operators and promoters are necessary to ensure the success of the CNMI’s VIP gaming industry so the commission had been doing its best to perform due diligence and other suitability review prior to issuing junket licenses.
In November 2020, the casino commission noted that the Chinese government’s blacklist system for cross-border gambling could have “very serious implications not only on casino gambling here but on the tourism industry in general.”
On April 8, 2021, Gov. Ralph DLG Torres wrote a letter to the casino commission, expressing his own “concerns about the present junket program.”
He asked the commissioners to “revisit this provision of the regulations, repeal this allowance for junket operator licenses, and enact the necessary safeguards and penalties to ensure that the operations of the casino licensee do not permit junket activities within the casino.”
In response to the governor’s letter, the commission said it “has determined that a comprehensive review of the junket program is warranted and no licenses under the present program should be renewed, nor new licenses issued until a comprehensive review has occurred, and new regulations are promulgated which address the governor’s concerns.”
Citing “serious violations” of the casino law, regulations and the casino license agreement, the commission on Thursday suspended IPI’s gaming license and imposed a total of $6.6 million in fines.
