Embattled Saipan casino operator Imperial Pacific International (CNMI) LLC has been given 30 days to pay the full US$62 million it owes to the Commonwealth Casino Commission in unpaid license fees or face revocation of its license.
Almost three months since determining that 30 days represented a reasonable time to complete payment upon receipt of notice for payment, such notice was finally issued last Thursday, according to local media reports, giving IPI until the end of December to comply.
This comes after the US Supreme Court ordered that the CCC must provide IPI with a “reasonable period of time” in regard to potential license revocation, and that any revocation could only take place after IPI was provided “an adequate and reasonable period for [IPI] to cure the issue identified.”
IPI’s casino was shuttered in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and its license suspended in April 2021 for failure to pay various fees owed. The CCC has since threatened to revoke the company’s license but has faced legal challenges from IPI, which argued that the initial reason its casino closed was due to a force majeure event.
However, the Supreme Court in January noted that such force majeure event has ended and that any lingering effects on IPI’s economic state do not constitute such an event either.
According to Saipan Tribune, IPI is considering its response to the payment order.
As reported by IAG, CNMI lawmaker Rep. Marissa Flores this week called on the CCC to either revoke the casino license of Imperial Pacific International immediately or resign following months of back and forth between the regulator and the embattled operator.
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