House Committee on Gaming Chair Ralph N. Yumul speaks during a committee meeting late last year.
THE House Committee on Gaming is working on a bill that would put the Commonwealth Casino Commission “out of existence.”
In an interview on Monday, the committee chair, Rep. Ralph N. Yumul, said they are reviewing Public Law 3-60, which created the Commonwealth Lottery Commission, and P.L. 18-56, which legalized casino gaming on Saipan. He said they are drafting a bill to “enhance” the power of the lottery commission.
Once the bill is enacted into law, Yumul said, the CCC “will not be in existence anymore because…the lottery commission will take some of the enforcement powers of CCC.”
“That’s the legislation that we are working on,” he added.
Yumul said the House committee is also looking at expanding the types of gaming allowed in the CNMI.
He said they do understand that a lot of residents don’t want a brick-and-mortar casino on island, “so what we are looking at is internet gaming, as another form of gambling in the CNMI, only marketing it out to the world.”
He said the CNMI could be a hub for offshore gaming.
“In order for us to do that, the lottery commission has to allow internet gaming in the CNMI,” he said.
Yumul clarified that they are not introducing a bill that would allow internet gaming. The bill would empower the lottery commission to decide which types of gaming it finds suitable in the Commonwealth, he said.
“So it will be up to the lottery commission to decide which types of gaming can be allowed in the CNMI,” he said.
He said the committee is also looking for a model concept in the States that can be applied to the CNMI.
Yumul said that the CCC “can’t do its job anymore because it’s tied with the only casino licensee in the CNMI and it’s not supposed to be like that.”
Asked for comment, Commonwealth Casino Commissioner Chair Edward C. Deleon Guerrero and Commissioner Mario Taitano said they would wait to see a draft of the bill before responding.
