House committee hears opposing legal and fiscal arguments over governor's order to move casino oversight to Lottery Commission

Members of the House Governmental and Judicial Operations committee on Wednesday, July 23, 2025, heard legal and budgetary testimony on Governor's Executive Order 2025-002, which would transfer supervision of casino gaming from the Commonwealth Casino Commission (CCC) to the Commonwealth Lottery Commission and make related administrative changes.

The debate focused on two immediate issues: whether the executive order is a lawful reallocation of executive-branch duties or an unconstitutional restructuring that alters statutes, and whether the transfer would address fiscal and conflict-of-interest problems arising from the long-dormant casino operator and accumulated fee arrears.

Brendan Laid, legal counsel to the governor, told the committee the order seeks to “consolidate duplicative government instrumentalities” so limited public dollars support core services. He explained that under Public Law 18-56 casino commissioners receive set annual pay but are not treated as government employees and that Public Law 19-24 created a $3,000,000 annual regulatory fee (with scheduled increases) intended to fund commission operations. Laid said the licensed operator — Imperial Pacific International (IPI) — ceased operations in fiscal 2020, stopped paying regulatory and license fees, and left “many million dollars” in arrears; that caused commission salary arrears and a fiscal “conundrum” the governor’s order aims to solve by assigning regulatory duties to lottery commissioners who serve ex officio and receive no separate commission pay.

“The time is of the essence,” Laid said, adding that a new bankruptcy winning bidder, Team King CNMI LLC, may exercise an option to acquire the casino license and that clarifying who regulates gaming affects imminent negotiations over curing encumbrances on the license.

Casino Commission Chairman Leon Guerrero, appearing with other commission staff, urged the committee to reject the executive order. Guerrero said the CCC is a statutorily created independent regulator with specific…