Rep. Stanley T. Torres, R-Saipan, said he found oddities between the Administrative Code and the Commonwealth Code seeking to change the gambling rules, including for charitable cause.
Torres said the proposed gambling regulations would allow a charitable gambling event once every three years.
“This would not only adversely affect the Rotary Club’s Las Vegas Nights but also the aid the community receives from its twice yearly event,” Torres wrote to Attorney General Matthew Gregory.
The lawmaker also suggested that the regulated gambling bet be changed from $25 to $100.
He finds the subsection requiring a special licensee to pay the Department of Finance and the Attorney General’s Investigative Unit personnel “troubling and indecent.”
“This not only offends common decency but is written in such a way that the government could end up with a majority of the money raised. The change is silent on who determines the number and the cost of the government personnel,” said Torres.
He asked Gregory to consider exempting Rotary from the new proposed gambling rules through a grandfather clause.
“Since the Rotary Club’s Las Vegas Nights have been a twice a year event for many years, I implore you to consider a grandfather clause that would exempt the Rotary Club’s Las Vegas Nights and any other organizations’ events similar in longevity and consistency from the new changes,” he said.
