MP Holdings LLC and Mariana Entertainment LLC, the owners of Saipan Vegas and Club 88, are asking the Saipan and Northern Islands Legislative Delegation to amend Saipan Local Law 22-6 which doubled the license fee of e-gaming machines.
The local measure, which the Saipan delegation unanimously passed without conducting a public hearing, imposes a $2,500 fee or 15% of the gaming proceeds whichever is greater in addition to the same amount imposed by another law.
MP Holdings consultant Gus Noble said they have been paying the government 15% of the proceeds collected from 190 e-gaming machines.
On Wednesday, MP Holdings announced the closure of Club 88 in Garapan, resulting in 30 local employees losing their jobs.
MP Holdings has also shut down Saipan Country Club which employed six ground maintenance workers who are all local workers. MP Holdings said it has no CWs, and all its employees are local or U.S. workers.
Noble said they have informed the chairman of the Saipan and Northern Islands Legislative Delegation, Senate Floor Leader Vinnie F. Sablan, that if the local law is not amended or repealed, the remaining e-gaming arcades on Saipan will also be shut down, and 40 more local workers will lose their jobs.
He reiterated that e-gaming companies are willing to compromise with lawmakers.
In a statement, MP Holdings and Mariana Entertainment general manager Bart Jackson said: “In an effort to find a compromise solution to the harsh effects of the newly doubled license fees on e-gaming machines, I have asked the Saipan delegation to lower the license fee. My opinion is that the new license fee, without a change, is harsh and unreasonable.”
He added, “We have respectfully requested an amendment to SLL 22-6 lowering the license fee. We have offered a compromise of a $500 increase on the per machine license fee.”
He said they “remain available at any time to meet with members of the Saipan delegation to further discuss the new license fee and to come to a compromise solution. We have already reached out and requested to meet with the delegation, but to date, the delegation has been unwilling to meet with us. We would like an opportunity to present our case to the delegation and to work with the delegation toward a workable compromise that will save the e-gaming industry and will preserve 70 local jobs.”
The employees of Club 88 who have lost their jobs due to the enactment of Saipan Law 22-6 which doubled the license fees imposed on e-gaming machines pose for a photo in the gaming arcade in Garapan on Thursday.
