BIG Investment Group, which owns the newly constructed Tinian Diamond Casino, has been paying the Tinian municipal government the annual $500,000 license fee for five years now, but it has yet to operate.
In an interview on Tuesday, Tinian Mayor Edwin P. Aldan said the China-based casino investor has already hired a hotel manager and a casino manager. However, he said the CNMI-wide hiring for hotel and casino jobs, which started last year, “has not been picking up.”
Not a lot of people were applying, he added. The company has been sending out job vacancy notices, “but people are not picking them up,” he said.
Nevertheless, Tinian Diamond Casino is still hiring.
Aldan said there was also a delay in the construction of the hotel and casino, which was further held up by the Covid-19 pandemic.
When the construction was finally completed last year, the company started hiring people. “They need staff for the gambling tables and slot machines,” the mayor said.
Aldan said the company prioritizes the hiring of U.S. citizens but may also have to consider hiring CNMI-Only Transitional or CW workers. “Although as you know, the CW program is very hard to sustain,” Aldan said, referring to the federal restrictions and limitations involved with the program.
The Tinian Diamond Hotel is located on Commonwealth Ports Authority property, where divert airfield construction activities are also going on.
The mayor believes that direct flights to Tinian would bring in casino customers, but as everyone knows, he said, the CNMI has been having “problems” with both international and inter-island flights.
Tinian Mayor Edwin P. Aldan, right, with Commonwealth Ports Authority Board Chair Kimberlyn King-Hinds during the CPA board meeting on Tuesday.
