Rev & Tax to decide if licenses will be revoked

by Mindy Aguon

Guam - Liberty, Match Play and Uncle Sam machines are still in operation at various establishments around the island. While the Attorney General's Office contends they are illegal and should be removed immediately, the Department of Revenue & Taxation still hasn't decided if they will revoke the licenses immediately. 

All bets apparently aren't off, at least not yet, when it comes to liberty and similar type amusement devices that were recently licensed after sitting in storage for the last five years. Rev & Tax received a letter on Friday ordering the revocation of 217 licenses the agency issued a week before as well as a listing of all the machines. "Their (AG's Office) position is basically saying that these machines are illegal and we shouldn't be issuing those licenses under Guam law that basically says that these are basically gambling machines," said director John Camacho.

Rev & Tax began re-issuing the licenses after the AG's Office dismissed its lawsuit against the department and Guam Music, Inc. dropped its case against the government. The two suits have been tied up in court for the last five years but both sides agreed to dismiss the cases which rev and tax believed paved the way for licensing of the machines to start up again. "As far as the issue on revoking those licenses, we're still working with the AG's Office on how the letter will be going out to these three owners notifying them of these machines," he added.

Camacho says they haven't decided whether they will revoke the licenses immediately, which will tie the department up in administrative hearings and due process that must be afforded to each of the companies but come June 30 one thing is clear. "We're not going to renew these things. When they came in it was only good up until June 30," he added, "and basically we're looking at notifying them of the non-renewal of business licenses when they expire giving them a notice basically the acquisition that these machines are gambling machines and they are illegal."

Even if they issue revocation notices, owners have 15 calendar days to request for a hearing and deny the accusations.  Guam Music, Inc. Has already said they will pursue the matter as they contend the machines are fully legal and regulations passed by lawmakers back in 2003 made the machines legal and able to be licensed each year. 

No matter what decision rev and tax makes, Camacho is sure of one thing: "My opinion is it will probably go back to court because the court never ruled whether or not these are really gambling machines," he stated.

It's the multimillion-dollar question that would have been answered had the Attorney General's Office pursued the case it filed five years ago when it first took the issue to court instead of agreeing to dismiss it earlier this month.