REPRESENTATIVE Vicente Camacho on Tuesday said Imperial Pacific International’s casino license, which was suspended last month by the Commonwealth Casino Commission, should be revoked.
“We cannot squeeze blood out of a turnip, so what are we going to do?” Camacho told casino commission acting executive director Vicente Babauta during a House Gaming Committee meeting in the House chamber.
During the meeting Babauta and other casino commission employees answered questions from lawmakers.
None of the casino commissioners attended the meeting.
Camacho said he supported the idea of bringing in the casino industry to Saipan, but now “it seems like we are the ones [who are] going to give them money because they want us to save them.”
“We cannot do that anymore,” he said adding that he supports the revocation of the casino license.
For his part, the committee chairman, Rep. Edwin Propst, said it is “so sad to see what has happened to the casino industry, but the blame should not be on IPI only.”
He said, “This government has to shoulder a lot of the blame as well. And it’s not just the Office of the Governor. It includes the Legislature and all leaders who pushed so quickly for the industry that seemed so promising, but there were still so many questions that remained unanswered.”
He recalled that many of them in the House sought transparency and accountability when dealing with the casino, “but we were shoved and put aside, and blasted.”
As he looks at the situation today, Propst said, “it is deeply disappointing.”
He added that government leaders should have “listened first” before making a decision.
He said the Development Plan Advisory Committee, which the governor created to monitor the progress of the casino industry, had indicated “warnings way back but were ignored.”
Propst told Babauta that the blame does not lie with the casino commission alone. “I think everybody has a share in these problems that we are facing,” Propst said.
Vicente Camacho
