While his office and the Tinian Casino Gaming Control Commission are now trying to see what can be done to meet payroll, the Tinian Dynasty Hotel and Casino is “working very hard” to keep its operation afloat, Dela Cruz said on Friday.
The mayor said Mike Kwan, the owner of Tinian Dynasty, is now in China for an ongoing negotiation with a potential partner.He said he met with Kwon last week and discussed the possibility of infusing more capital into the Tinian casino.
According to Dela Cruz, Kwan is committed to save the industry on Tinian and has vowed to do everything he can to pump more money into the casino.
“Tinian Dynasty has been doing this for quite a while,” Dela Cruz said, hoping that Kwon will return with some good news.
Kwon, he added, was able to secure additional flights from China following the inaugural charter flight of Sichuan Airlines a few weeks ago.
Dela Cruz said the CNMI tourism’s peak season has yet to arrive but he has already seen an increase in the number of visitors.
He said he continues to promote Tinian not only in Japan but also in other Asian countries like South Korea and China.
Many tourists from other parts of Asia are curious to see Tinian, he added.
He is confident that there’s going to be more economic activities on the island again.
“This bad news about the lack of casino revenue is temporary,” he added.
Meanwhile, he said, the gaming commission, which has some 20 officials and employees, will have to “live on a day to day basis.”
It will be the first agency on Tinian to feel the impact of the crisis but Dela Cruz said he is working very hard to meet municipal payroll.
Tinian will recover, he added.
“I am working overtime in order to find ways to address this crisis,” he said.
In a separate interview, Rep. Froilan C. Tenorio, Covenant-Saipan, said his bill that will allow tele-casinos will help the struggling casinos on Tinian and Rota.
“Believe it or not, I want to help the casinos on Rota and Tinian that is why I introduced that bill,” said the former governor who also supports a casino on Saipan.
He said traveling gamblers who “don’t like the hassle of taking another flight from one island to another” can still patronize the Tinian and Rota casinos while they are on Saipan through a tele-casino.
The revenue of the remote casino on Saipan will go to Tinian and Rota, he added.
Asked about the declining revenue collected from Tinian Dynasty, Tenorio said the leaders and people of the island should have known what was coming.
When Tinian Dynasty started shutting down some of its operations, the Tinian leaders should have foreseen that their main source of revenue was coming to an end, he added.
“How could they not know it?” he asked. “Maybe their delegation was busy spending their $5,000 subsistence allowance here on Saipan.”
Tenorio warned that “the worst has yet to come.”
If things don’t improve, he said a lot of people on Tinian and Rota will lose their jobs.
Hesaid once the deliberation on the fiscal year 2011 budget starts, he will recommend that Tinian and Rota should not get more than what they contribute to the general fund. He noted that in FY 2011, the two islands had contributed only about $ 2 million but they received some $6 million to $7 million.
“This time around, we will not cut the budget for the Public School System, Northern Marianas College, Public Health and Public Safety just to give them more than they bring in to the central government’s coffers,” he added.
