Saipan regulator to reschedule casino license revocation hearings against Imperial Pacific International

According to local media reports, the new revocation hearings will likely take place between October and December after the US Court of Appeals recently granted an appeal against a prior ruling by the US District Court preventing it from revoking IPI’s licensed and mandated non-binding arbitration.

While that arbitration has since taken place, CCC chairman Edward C. Deleon Guerrero said Thursday that the decision of the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit rendered the arbitrator’s findings irrelevant.

IPI has also asked the US Court of Appeals to reconsider its decision, with a decision on that matter due by 12 August, however the CCC will also appeal to dismiss IPI’s case entirely.

Either way, Marianas Variety reports that the CCC is now looking to schedule new revocation hearings in relation to five complaints filed against IPI by CCC Executive Director Andrew Yeom in 2021 for failure to comply with certain requirements under its license agreement.

Those five complaints specifically related to IPI’s failure to pay its annual US$15.5 million license fee in August 2020, failure to pay its annual US$3.1 million regulatory fee in October 2020, failure to contribute US$20 million to the community benefit fund in both 2018 and 2019, failure to comply with its minimum US$2 billion capital requirement and failure to comply with a CCC order to pay all money owing to its vendors.

While IPI’s license has been suspended since April 2021, the company has been actively working to prevent full revocation – arguing that its failure to pay mandated fees was a result of force majeure. IPI’s casino, Imperial Palace • Saipan, was closed in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

IPI has recently touted its desire to reopen the casino should it find outside investment, but the company hasn’t been able to prevent the sale of its gaming equipment which has seen more than US$1 million raised to pay back contractors via a series of online auctions.