Tinian has a casino which opened in 1998 but it has yet to recover its multi-million-dollar capital.
Rota legalized casino gaming three years ago but still has no casino.
Deleon Guerrero told the House Committee on Tourism and Commerce chaired by Rep. Edmund Villagomez, Covenant-Saipan, that crimes are committed everyday on Saipan because people have no jobs.
“Our people are hungry. We have no money for medical referral. Where are we going to get funding from?”
Deleon Guerrero said he is challenging anyone to offer another solution to the CNMI’s economic crisis.
“Casino is the solution whether you like it not,” he told the nine people who attended the public hearing on House Bills 17-55 and 17-56 which Speaker Froilan C. Tenorio, Covenant-Saipan, sponsored.
Borja said the CNMI, which was “once the envy” of other islands in the Western Pacific is now languishing in poverty and debt.
“At one point in time, we were…a jewel of Micronesia. With our robust garment industry on Saipan and our tourism industry, we generated $250 million in revenues in the mid-1990s. Our streets were bustling with tourists, our ports were busy with incoming raw materials and outgoing garments to be sold by New York City firms such as Polo and Tommy Hilfiger,” he said.
“Some say those days are behind us. I say, we can bring back prosperity by enacting House Bill 17-55,” he added.
Borja said “there is a perfect storm out there waiting to swallow us. Simply put, we have no money for [the Commonwealth Utilities Corp.]. We have no money for the Retirement Fund. We have no money for payroll. We have no money for medical referral and healthcare. We need an avenue out of these bad economic times. We need relief. We need casino gambling.”
But other residents urged the committee to consider the impact of casino legalization on their community.
Ignacio Cabrera said Saipan is already suffering from the impact of poker arcades.
“Drugs are all over the islands,” he said.
He added legalized casino on Saipan will add more problems and result in more crimes.
Karen Benson, an anti-gambling advocate and educator, said there are smarter ways to fix the troubled economy of the CNMI.
“I believe that if we put much effort and time, we could come up with a solution,” she said.
She believes that casino will destroy Saipan and many families and create more problems within the community.
“I think it’s going to destroy our beautiful island,” she said.
Larry Cabrera, the former chairman of the Democratic Party, is also strongly against the casino. He said more gambling activities on Saipan will not solve the cash-strapped government’s problems.
Instead, Cabrera said, it will create more societal ills.
In 1979, the first CNMI Legislature enacted a casino law after overriding the veto of then-Gov. Carlos S. Camacho.
The people, however, rejected the law through a referendum, by a vote of 3,968 to 1,702.
In 2007, the Saipan Casino Act was placed on the ballot but was rejected by the island’s voters: 5,125 to 3,701.
