{"id":19065,"date":"2021-06-16T14:26:41","date_gmt":"2021-06-16T14:26:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=19065"},"modified":"2026-04-23T18:31:20","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T21:31:20","slug":"imperial-pacific-requests-review-into-gaming-licence-suspension","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/imperial-pacific-requests-review-into-gaming-licence-suspension","title":{"rendered":"Imperial Pacific requests review into gaming licence suspension"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

IPI says that it should be exempt from paying its licence fee to the Commonwealth Casino Commission for the last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Northern Mariana Islands.- Imperial Pacific International (IPI) <\/strong>has filed a request for the Superior Court in Saipan to review its casino licence suspension<\/a> imposed by the Commonwealth Casino Commission (CCC) in April.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The CCC suspended IPI’s licence for failure to pay its fees. However, IPI argues that the casino licence agreement doesn’t require it to pay an annual fee in the event of a natural disaster<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Imperial Pacific wants the Superior Court in Saipan <\/strong>to determine whether the Covid-19 pandemic could be considered a natural disaster <\/strong>or force majeure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the Superior Court finds in its favour, IPI could be exempted from paying its annual licence fee<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In April, the Commonwealth Casino Commission board ordered IPI to pay a penalty of US$6.6m<\/strong>, an annual casino exclusive licence fee of US$15.5m and annual casino regulatory fees of US$3.1m<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the Commonwealth Casino Commission (CCC), Imperial Pacific International had violated five orders <\/strong>including a failure to pay its US$3.1m annual regulatory fee <\/strong>in 2020 and failure to comply with an order to settle debts<\/strong> with vendors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The casino remains closed since March 2020<\/strong> due to the temporary shutdown imposed by the government amid the Covid-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In June, Cui Li Jie<\/a>, Imperial Pacific International\u2019s chairwoman, resigned due to \u201cpersonal time constraints.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Li Jie was found in contempt of court after being ordered to appear with CEO Donald Browne at federal court<\/em><\/strong><\/a> at an inquiry related to a lawsuit brought by the US Department of Labor<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the time, Cui Li Jie blamed her lawyer and her lack of understanding of English. <\/strong>She said she was poorly represented in court Juan T. Lizama.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, last week Lizama said that John Mo Shi Jian<\/a>, a former Macau law professor, was giving the former IPI chairwoman bad advice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lizama stated: \u201cJohnny Mo may be a law professor, but he has bad common sense.<\/strong> He is all for himself.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

IPI says that it should be exempt from paying its licence fee to the Commonwealth Casino Commission for the last year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":18727,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"Imperial Pacific International (IPI) is contesting its casino license suspension by the Commonwealth Casino Commission (CCC) in the Northern Mariana Islands, arguing that the COVID-19 pandemic constitutes a \"natural disaster\" or \"force majeure\" exempting it from annual license fees totaling US$25.2 million. The Superior Court in Saipan will determine if IPI is obligated to pay these fees, which include a US$15.5 million exclusive license fee and US$3.1 million in regulatory fees. This legal challenge highlights critical issues in regulatory compliance and contractual interpretation for iGaming operators.","focusai_entities":"Imperial Pacific International (IPI), Commonwealth Casino Commission (CCC), Superior Court in Saipan, Cui Li Jie, Donald Browne, US Department of Labor, Juan T. Lizama, John Mo Shi Jian","focusai_location":"Northern Mariana Islands, Saipan","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (1.0), operator_casino (0.9), investor_analyst (0.9), supplier_vendor (0.7), journalist_researcher (0.9)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Force Majeure Precedent?","query":"What precedent could the Superior Court's ruling on COVID-19 as a \"natural disaster\" or \"force majeure\" set for other iGaming operators globally regarding their contractual and regulatory obligations during unforeseen crises?"},{"label":"Regulatory Enforcement Impact?","query":"How will the outcome of IPI's legal challenge influence the Commonwealth Casino Commission's future regulatory enforcement strategies and the perceived stability of the Northern Mariana Islands' gaming jurisdiction?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[16336,439,158],"tags":[14213,23907],"class_list":["post-19065","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-australasia-news","category-legal-news","category-slider-home","tag-imperial-pacific","tag-land-based-casino"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19065","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/176"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19065"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19065\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19095,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19065\/revisions\/19095"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18727"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}