High Roling Saipan Casino Attracts Unwanted Attention

The island of Saipan in the western Pacific Ocean has got some of the gambling industry’s best analysts puzzled, as despite being a tiny US Commonwealth jurisdiction, its casino, the Best Sunshine Live, has been outperforming some of the world’s most popular gambling resorts.
Located roughly 1,600 miles east of the Philippines, the beautiful volcanic island receives around 40,000 tourists each year, who travel there to enjoy its sandy beaches, coral reef, and sea life. That number is just a fraction of the 2.4 million tourists who annually flock to Macau, and yet its casino’s VIP tables have been raking in eight times the average revenues generated by Macau’s biggest gambling venues.
In September alone, the Best Sunshine Live reported that its patrons had wagered a total of $3.9 billion, with much of the credit apparently going to 100 of its VIP gamblers. That means on average each high-roller would have had to have bet around $39 million each in September, a figure which seems to have drawn the attention of law-enforcement and the media, including Daniela Wei from Bloomsberg.
As she wrote on her piece entitled “Big Money, Big Questions at Trump Protege’s Remote Casino“, there is little about the venue that would suggest the incredible flow of money that has been reported as being wagered at its gaming tables. Elaborating further, Wei noted:
“Construction workers bet $5 or $10 at a time on roulette and baccarat in a fug of nicotine. Clustered in a far corner are a handful of tables for so-called VIP gamblers, which at 8:30 p.m. on a September Saturday are almost empty. A nearby bar has just a couple of patrons.”
Needless to say, the casino has now attracted the attention of authorities, such as the U.S. Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), according to the Bloomsberg article. In the meantime, however, Best Sunshine Live’s CEO, Mark Brown, has denied anything untoward, and has stated that “We are very transparent. We don’t want to do anything to break the law.”