THE $2 million that the Commonwealth Casino Commission expects to receive from the CNMI government will not be enough to continue running the regulatory body, according to its executive director, Andrew Yeom.
In an interview on Wednesday, Yeom said the $2 million that the central government borrowed from the commission, and will transmit soon, “won’t last a long time if it’s not replenished.”
That amount of money, he said, may be enough for personnel and operations costs for now, but it won’t last long.
Yeom said one of the bases of the commission’s recent decision to suspend Imperial Pacific International’s exclusive license is its failure to pay the $3 million annual regulatory fee.
He said the commission relies on the regulatory fee, and is appropriated only $1 annually in the CNMI government’s fiscal year budget.
Yeom noted that there is only one casino. If there are other casinos on island, “it would be better for us, but we only have one exclusive licensee,” he added.
