Northern Mariana Islands Casinos

Posted by Nick Niesen on October 26th, 2010

The Northern Mariana Islands are a group of islands situated in the Pacific Ocean east of the Philippines, administered by the United States of America since the Second World War. They were originally settled by the Chamorro people, but the population nowadays is mostly descended from settlers brought in from other island groups. Northern Mariana Islands casinos are a small but growing sector of the economy, which is heavily reliant on tourism, garment manufacture, and agriculture.

There is currently one Northern Mariana Islands casino, which is situated on the island of Tinian, one of the three principal islands that make up the Northern Mariana Islands. Tinian was formerly the site of a US Air Force base, notable for being the launching pad for the air raids that dropped the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. Nowadays, the air base is closed, and in its place is a sumptuous hotel and casino complex, the Tinian Dynasty Casino, which has 33 table games offering all the usual card games, as well as around 450 slot machines and video games spread over some 75,000 square feet. The Tinian Dynasty Casino also boasts four restaurants, three bars, and a nightclub.

Like most tourist attractions in the Northern Mariana Islands, the largest group of visitors hail from Japan, but there is also a steady stream of travelers from the United States and China, attracted by the pleasant climate and friendly local people, and it is planned to increase the number of flights to the islands in the future. In order to benefit from tourist dollars, and to encourage new visitors to come to the islands, there are plans for further Northern Mariana Islands casinos on Tinian. One such proposed development would be sited on the hills across Tinian Lookout Point, and it is attracting interest from a Chinese consortium, but there are three other projects currently in development, reflecting the growing interest in building further Northern Mariana Islands casinos to cater to foreign visitors.

These changes seem likely to bring more visitors to the Northern Mariana Islands, both from Asia and the United States. Some of these travelers will come for a change of scenery, or as part of historical pilgrimages to the islands involved in the War in the Pacific, but an increasing number are coming to play at Northern Mariana Islands casinos, which offer a pleasant diversion from the other attractions of these islands.