THE Commonwealth Casino Commission on Thursday suspended the gaming license of Imperial Pacific International for failure to comply with five orders relating to its various obligations.
Citing serious violations of the casino law, regulations and the casino license agreement, the commissioners unanimously decided to suspend IPI’s gaming license and impose a total of $6.6 million in fines.
The commission also ordered IPI to pay its outstanding obligations totaling $18.6 million.
In its decision, the commission said it is indefinitely suspending the casino license for four of the five enforcement actions, and suspending it for six months for IPI’s failure to pay the $20 million annual community benefit fund.
The other four enforcement actions are IPI’s failure to pay the $15 million annual license fee; failure to maintain sufficient working capital to pay its employees and other obligations; failure to pay outstanding obligations to the government and private vendors; and failure to pay the $3 million annual regulatory fee.
For IPI’s failure to pay the community benefit fund, the commission imposed a $100,000 fine payable within one month.
For its failure to pay the annual casino license fee, IPI was fined $1.5 million payable within six months.
For its failure to maintain sufficient working capital, IPI was fined $2 million payable within six months.
For its failure to pay the regulatory fee, IPI was fined $1.5 million also payable in six months.
The commission likewise ordered IPI to pay the $15 million license fee and the $3.5 million license fee effective immediately upon the issuance of the order on April 22, 2021.
According to the commission, it “finds by clear and convincing evidence that the violations were actions of omission; the casino licensee did not promptly accept responsibility for the offenses; the casino licensee has numerous actions pending in the courts of the United States…and [the] Commonwealth, and before the [Commonwealth Casino] Commission; the relative harm suffered by the Commonwealth is moderate to great in that the public’s confidence in general and the gaming public specifically is greatly harmed when the licensee breaches contracts; and the casino licensee had some funds to pay for the annual license fee but chose not to….”
The report on the investigation of IPI’s violations was presented to the commission by its acting executive director, Vicente B. Babauta, who also heads the enforcement and investigation division.
Tiberius Mocanu appeared as IPI’s counsel while Mike Ernest represented the commission’s executive director.
The chairman of commission is Edward C. Deleon Guerrero, the vice chairman is Ralph S. Demapan and the other commissioners are Mariano Taitano, Ramon M. Dela Cruz and Diego M. Songao.
