Rota Mayor Aubry Hocog, third left, and IH Group Chairman Kyunam Kim, third right, holds a copy of a Rota casino license as they pose for a photo with Rota Gaming Commission Chair Mateo Santos, right, and other gaming commissioners.
AFTER obtaining a license from the Rota Casino Gaming Commission, the IH Group wants the people of Rota to know that it is moving forward with its plan to build an integrated hotel and casino facility on the island.
IH Group is the Korea-based company that signed a $150 million investment contract with Imperial Pacific International two years ago to continue the construction of IPI’s hotel-casino on Saipan, and operate it.
In an interview on Friday, IH Group Chair Kyunam Kim said the Rota Casino Gaming Commission issued his company a casino license on July 5, 2024. This license will allow IH Group to conduct onsite and online casino operations on Rota.
The license fee, Kim said, costs $200,000 a year. The Rota casino law also requires a $5 million investment threshold.
He said they initially set up 30 slot machines and a few gambling tables in a three-story building in Songsong. The name of the casino is I Love Rota Casino/IH Casino.
Kim said their main goal is to pursue a “city project” that was put on hold due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Now, he said, “we are ready to resume what we would have started years ago.” He said they are also ready to submit a proposal to lease Rota Resort & Country Club.
Kim said they already have construction equipment on Rota, and a construction team from Korea is ready to fly to the island to begin the project.
He said the plan is to build onsite casinos and renovate Rota Resort. They are just waiting for DPL to issue a request for proposals for the Rota Resort land lease.
Kim said they have already invested close to $6 million for the equipment alone.
As for IPI, he said they had a good plan for the casino and hotel on Saipan. However, after signing an agreement with IPI, they found out that there were “so many debts,” Kim said.
They also learned that IPI’s board adviser Hongtao Su, the man they signed the agreement with, had no legal authority to act on IPI’s behalf, “so it created a lot of problems,” Kim added.
“At this point, I just want to put that thing behind. I spent a lot of money, but I did not bother IPI for the money I’ve lost, so I just want to move on and focus on our proposed city project on Rota,” Kim said.