House backs full payment of poker license

The House of Representatives passed yesterday a measure that would make full payment of fees a requirement for a poker license.

The House members voted unanimously in favor of House Bill 15-18, which would require poker license fees to be paid in full prior to the issuance of a license. The proposed legislation also provides that those fees should be nonrefundable.

According to the House Committee on Ways and Means, there are currently 1,414 poker machines throughout the Commonwealth. These machines should be providing a total of $16.38 million to government coffers.

Currently, the yearly fees are being paid on a quarterly basis.

The bill, authored by Rep. Justo S. Quitugua, would require poker machine operators to pay the yearly fees up front.

The House committee noted that the quarterly collection of fees impedes the appropriation process by the Legislature as well as the respective legislative delegations.

The panel recalled that, during the 14th Legislature, the Ways and Means committee chairman of the Saipan and Northern Islands Legislative Delegation withdrew numerous appropriation bills because the source of funding was insufficient. The collection of fees pursuant to Saipan Local Law 11-2 trickled in each quarter.

The House Ways and Means Committee also said the quarterly payment makes enforcement more difficult and it encourages false reporting, nonpayment of fees, and the operation of illegal machines. The operators, according to the House panel, know that the responsible enforcement arm of the CNMI government is practically incapable of policing and tracking which machine has been paid and for which quarter.

“[T]he quarterly collection of poker and pachinko fees has hampered and caused unnecessary delays in completion of much needed projects, impedes the appropriation of funds, and has created an enforcement nightmare, which encourages unscrupulous practices,” the committee noted.

Currently, there are 1,226 licenses for poker machines on Saipan, 106 on Tinian, and 82 on Rota.

Saipan operators are charged a yearly fee of $12,000 per poker machine. The license rate is $8,000 a year on Tinian and $10,000 on Rota.

Of the respective amounts, $6,000 goes to the general fund while the balance goes to the local governments.

This means that poker fees should generate $8.484 million for the general fund, as well as $7.896 million for Saipan; $212,000 for Tinian; and $328,000 for Rota.