CUI Lijie, the majority owner of Imperial Pacific International, said they are doing their best to find a new investor that can help them reopen the casino resort in Garapan.
In an interview on Monday through a translator, she said about six years ago, when the casino was still operating, many investors were interested to join IPI’s business venture on Saipan. Some of them, she added, visited the island to see the casino.
In the following years, however, “many bad news” about IPI reached the attention of these investors.
Cui said these “bad news” were the consequences of the “bad decisions” made by IPI’s former managers, creating “a lot of problems” that were compounded by the Covid-19 pandemic which shut down the casino in March 2020.
Cui said she would like to “go back to the table” with CNMI leaders and “bring a new beginning” that can help revive the casino industry.
She said IPI has already spent over $20 million to settle the lawsuits filed against it by former vendors and/or employees.
IPI is doing everything it can to clear the cases still pending in the federal and local courts, she added.
“All we want is to reopen the casino so we can start to contribute again to the CNMI economy,” Cui said.
She said IPI wants to meet its pending obligations to the CNMI government, but she added that the Commonwealth should also acknowledge that IPI has not earned revenue for the past three years.
Cui said IPI can help promote the CNMI in Japan and South Korea once given the second chance to move forward with its casino business.
Cui also hopes that the CNMI lawmakers attending the ASEAN Gaming Summit in Manila will gain knowledge about the industry and work toward the reopening of Saipan’s casino industry.
