The last time businessman Lorenzo LG. Cabrera spoke against the Saipan casino proposal was late last year when the House of Representatives and the Senate were discussing it. The House passed the bill which the Senate rejected.
In an interview yesterday, Cabrera said he thought the Saipan casino proposal was a dead issue already.
But now that the controversial bill appears to be supported by the administration and several senators, Cabrera asks: “Do the proponents know something that the people do not know?”
The chairman of the Diocese of Chalan Kanoa’s special committee to oppose gambling, Cabrera said the off-island people with whom the local proponents are dealing with are just “front guys of the people who really have the money.”
According to Cabrera, these “front guys” want the real investors to believe that Saipan is a potential place for a casino and at the same time telling the cash-trapped CNMI government that there are “big investors” interested in a casino.
Cabrera said he doubts if the real casino investors have set foot on Saipan.
He noted that the proponents assume that casino gamblers would come to Saipan, but he believes that there are better places for gambling: Macau, Singapore and the Philippines, which have several other attractions to offer.
Cabrera said he does not see any indication that casino on Saipan will make money for the investors or the government itself.
Tinian “got lucky” with the Tinian Dynasty Hotel and Casino, he said, because during that time, Hong Kong was about to be taken over by China and the investors from the former British colony were looking for somewhere else to go.
Real investors will learn about Saipan’s declining population and lack of infrastructure, and Cabrera doubts if these businesspersons will be interested in doing business here.
He noted that Tinian and Rota, both of which have casinos, have only succeeded in digging deeper financial holes and are still dependent on the central government’s assistance.
The central government has poured a lot of money into the Tinian and Rota casinos which have never contributed to the general fund, Cabrera said.
He said the CNMI should stop wasting public funds on money-losing activities.
Asked if Saipan voters will now support a casino due to the hard economic times, Cabrera said, “I hope not.”
He recalled that when Saipan rejected the casino proposal in 1979 and 2007, “the people needed money then, as they do now.”
A casino and other gambling activities are the most expensive and unethical industry there is, Cabrera said.
“It brings misery to the people, not money,” he added.
