Rota island resort files lawsuit against gaming commission

Monday 17th of October 2016

The owner of CNMI’s Rota Resort and Country Club has reportedly filed a lawsuit against the Rota Casino Gaming Commission and its commissioners for unfairly deeming their conditional casino license expired, local media reports.

According to a report from Saipan Tribune, SNM Corp., owner of the Rota Resort and Country Club said that the Rota casino commission violated the Open Government Act by holding a special meeting without giving notice to the company or the public.

SNM president and chair Hee Kyun Cho has reportedly asked the Superior Court to prevent the enforcement of any actions of the Rota Casino Gaming Commission, as well as to prevent the commission from holding any further meeting or taking any further action related to SNM in violation of the Commonwealth Code.

In October, SNM received a copy of a resolution passed by the commission stating that, “since the issuance of the conditional license on July 15, 2011, more than five years ago, there is still no casino and there is no evidence that anything is being done on this casino project as proposed by the SNM Corp. in its business plan.”

The resolution also resolved that the commission has decided that the conditional casino license issued to SNM Corp. on July 15, 2011, expired on July 15, 2016.

However, SNM has argued that the license granted by the Commission Resolution 2011-2 was issued on the date of full payment of the corresponding casino license fee, which was September 25. 2013, meaning it does not expire until at least either Sept. 25, 2018 or Oct. 2, 2018.

Bricks & Mortar Lawsuit Sue Breach