The Commonwealth Casino Commission has announced that Best Sunshine International is now financially capable to complete the construction phase of the Grand Mariana Casino Resort, a project the company had undertaken in Garapan. Edward Deleon Guerrero, the Executive Director of the Commission, reported on Friday that the Commission had met with casino executives to assess the ability of Best Sunshine to complete the project, which has a price tag of $500 million.
According to MVariety, Guerrero stated that the information the Commission had previously was that the project of the Grand Mariana would cost $500 million or more to complete with a total of 374 hotel rooms on sight. The Commission was interested in viewing the financial records to find out if Best Sunshine would be able to complete their plans and how they would go about the construction of the venue. Financial documents were requested and the Commission reviewed the information to ensure that Imperial Pacific was able to complete the project based on the financial aspects.
Guerrero reported that the Commission found the group financially able to complete the Grand Mariana as they have provided documents and auditors have backed the information, with Imperial Pacific showing they have increased their financial position to have funds to complete the construction.
With the discussion between officials of Best Sunshine and the Commission, it was revealed that the group does not know for sure how many VIP rooms, gaming tables and machines the Grand Mariana will house. However, according to Jerry Xie, the Chief Financial Officer of BSI, the VIP tables should be around 40% of the total table numbers.
The Commission requested that BSI consider hiring employees from Tinian and Rota as well as provide free housing accommodations. Chief Executive Officer Mark Brown, of BSI, stated the company will consider the request, having already met the local requirement in the workforce, with 65% already being locals or United States employees.
Information had been reported previously by news outlets that Best Sunshine was not paying their taxes but according to Guerrero, this is incorrect. Best Sunshine is paying 5% of the business gross revenue tax, with tables and machines being tracked by the Commission. Employees are also licensed so they can be monitored and tracked as well.