Saipan casino industry is under a big problem these days because of the ordering out of foreign workers from their casino outlets. The executive directors of the regulatory body who oversees the day to day operations of the Saipan casino says that this move is hurting with the ongoing contract worker crisis amid a breached cap on workers this fiscal year. This fiscal year approx 1,300 foreign workers will be shepherd out from the Commonwealth by October.
Commonwealth Casino Commission executive director Edward C.Deleon Guerrero told Spain Tribune that in July, the Best Sunshine International Ltd. casino has laid off over 130 employees who need to leave Commonwealth. June saw around 90 employees leave the casino. In spite of repeated attempts to contact Casino executives through phone and email regarding the extent of the impact of the breached cap there has been no success as they do not respond. They have been asked to submit the number of affected employees due to breached cap and how many would leave in the months up to the end of the fiscal year.
Deleon Guerrero said:
Some of [the casino employees] we license, some of them we do not license who were affected. We’re trying to balance this gaming and non-gaming issue,”
When being asked about how the industry is responding to this issue the executive director said they are trying to hire U.S. or local workers and that he’s heard that they are trying to move up the training schedules for the local workers to work in casino operations.
Commission chair Juan Sablan said they just come from trip from Asia and from that, they are trying to make their regulations more “competitive.”
He further said on to note the “market” for casino gaming and noted the Philippines, Hong Kong, Macau, and Singapore are much closer to this market. “We have to make sure this company grows to see how they operate at least the first year of operation and then we sit down and reassess our situation here. But everything is in a plus now, let’s not make it a minus.”
On Tuesday during a meeting with the lawmakers of the house committee on commerce and tourism, regulators and house members discussed the potential of levying a gaming tax on the Saipan casino. Through a recently introduced House Bill 1968 which would levy a 10 percent casino gaming revenue for the payment of the government’s outstanding land compensation claims, among others.
