The Commonwealth Casino Commission of the Northern Mariana Islands has recently stated that the proposed House Bill 20-50 is going to impose a fine amounting to $5 million on the individuals who trespass the laws of the casino venues. In response to that Commissioner Juan M. Sablan said that in comparison to what other countries’ jurisdictions have as penalty measures, there is no need for such high fines.
The comments of the chairman were issued in written form and they have been submitted to the House Gaming Committee. As an alternative to the high penalty, the Commissioner proposed the maximum amount of fine to be $500,000 whenever there is breaching of various casino laws, regulations, minimum internal control standards, or even commission orders and directives. In order to make his point clear the chairman provided the exact penalty amounts which are imposed on other gambling hubs around the world.
For instance, in the biggest gaming hub in the world, Macau the penalty amounts to $62,171 when a person is not abiding the law and $621,712 when it is an organization that is trespassing it. At the same time, the lowest rates of fines could be found in Singapore, where an individual has to pay $7,042 for an infringement, while an organization will be penalized with $70,422. The highest rates are in Nevada where both individuals and organizations have to pay $250,000. As for New Jersey which is the second biggest gambling location in the US, the maximum fine reaches $50,000 for an individual and up to $200,000 for an organization.
The House Committee on Gaming then amended the bill and the new penalty amounts to $800,000. This is still the highest penalty among casino jurisdictions around the world, but it’s lower than what was initially proposed by Rep. Ed Propst. Mr. Sablan also expressed his support of another bill, H.B. 20-82, which is expected to provide the regulator with the needed guidelines which clarify the independent manner of statutory mandates enforcement and implementation. This, in turn, is going to benefit the gambling field in Saipan as a whole.
Improvements to the Regulation of Saipan
In the meantime, the regulator gave the green light to another gaming bill which affects hotels’ right to offer electronic-gaming activities on their site. According to it a hotel or resort with adjacent golf course should have at least 18 holes in order to conduct gambling activities. This new bill will clarify the specific standards for receiving gaming operation permission and this is important since golf sport has been very popular among the tourists in the area. The measure will affect the Third Senatorial District and the location should have more than 100 rooms on offer, or less than a 100, but attached to a golf course with a minimum of 18 holes.
