Saipan casino operator Imperial Pacific International (IPI) threw another $103m onto the bonfire in the first half of 2020, while questioning the definition of ‘exclusivity’ in order to get out of paying its license fees.

On Monday, IPI released its interim results for the first six months ending June 30, during which revenue fell 93.3% year-on-year to just HK$26.7m (US$3.4m). The company booked an operating loss of nearly HK$53m while its actual losses hit HK$798m (US$103m).

Believe it or not, that’s actually a significant improvement over the nearly US$240m the company lost in H1 2019, and the improvement came despite IPI being forced to close its Imperial Palace casino in mid-March due to COVID-19. Perhaps IPI should choose not to operate any gaming whatsoever in the second half of 2020 in the hopes that it might break even.

IPI’s once vaunted VIP gambling business booked a net loss of HK$24.7m in H2 versus a HK$255m gain the previous year. Mass table game and electronic gaming revenue each fell by two-thirds to HK$32.8m and HK$12.8m, respectively.