In the Commonwealth Of The Northern Mariana Islands, South Korean firm Big Bang Entertainment has become the first junket operator to be issued with a license allowing it to provide services to local casino operator Imperial Pacific International Holdings Limited.

According to a report from the Marianas Variety newspaper, Big Bang Entertainment is owned by Du Young Jang and will now be able to conduct and transact business with the Hong Kong firm behind Saipan’s temporary Best Sunshine Live and coming The Grand Mariana Casino Hotel And Resort.

The newspaper reported that the one-year provisional license was issued by the American territory’s Commonwealth Casino Commission on September 11 and is due to expire at the end of August while there are “about 18 more” such operator’s awaiting similar approvals.

Junket operators arrange trips for high net worth casino players and Big Bang Entertainment will now seek final official approval for an agreement with Imperial Pacific International Holdings Limited’s operating subsidiary, Best Sunshine International, after having the initial terms of a deal provisionally endorsed last week.

Juan Sablan, Chairman for the Commonwealth Casino Commission, told the newspaper that junket operators are required to have a “clean record” in order to be licensed while the body’s Executive Director, Edward Deleon Guerrero, declared that the majority of Big Bang Entertainment’s clients are from South Korea and Japan with lower volumes than seen from other parts of Asia.