Authored by Rep. Ralph N. Yumul, H.B. 21-62 is now Public Law 21-26. It states: “No deduction shall be allowed from gross revenue for the unpaid balance of any obligation or credit extended for gambling or gaming.”
Yumul, who chairs the House Committee on Gaming, drafted the bill when Imperial Pacific International was negotiating its tax obligation with the CNMI government.
The government initially claimed that the casino operator owed close to $30 million in unpaid Business Gross Revenue Tax, but IPI said it had “overpaid” the CNMI government in previous years.
After several months of negotiation, IPI and the government agreed to an $18 million tax settlement late last year.
P.L. 21-26 states that “gambling can have an adverse effect on the community. Further, making loans or extending credit for the purpose of gambling can foster problem gambling.”
The measure “discourages lending for the purpose of gambling by providing that unpaid balances on loans extended for gambling shall not be deducted from gross revenues in determining the tax on gross revenues.”
