Justice Fidela Corbin-Lincoln on Tuesday ordered the Gaming Authority to consider, process, and determine an application for a casino operator’s licence made by Sleepin International Hotel and Casino Inc. by or before the 28th February 2019.
The decision is a victory for Sleepin, which had applied for the licence since 2017.
It follows an application for an order of mandamus, also known as a compelling order, to compel the Authority to consider the hotel’s application after what it says is an unreasonable, inordinate delay of about one and half years in processing its application.
In court documents seen by Stabroek News, the hotel claimed that though it submitted the last of the documents and material requested by the authority since February 28th, 2018, it has not been granted the licences (Sleepin has also applied for a casino premises licence), and the staff of the authority have not offered an update or explanation as to the status of its applications.
Notably the original application was made on April 5th, 2017, and additional documents requested after the application was made, which documents the hotel’s difficulties in acquiring, were submitted several extensions later, on February 28th, 2018.
“The delay of more than one and a half years since the submission of all requisite documents and materials by the hotel to accompany its application for a casino operator’s licence and a casino premises licence is unreasonable,” the application stated.
In the 26th October edition of the Stabroek News, legal counsel for Sleepin, Anil Nandlall, had said he made an enquiry of the Authority after the delay, and was told by Chairman of the Gaming Authority, Roysdale Forde, that the entity was awaiting the completion of police investigations being conducted with respect to the “hotel and its principals.”
In the order, however, it was claimed that none of the hotel’s principals has been contacted regarding such an investigation, and a letter to the Commissioner of Police enquiring as to whether such investigations were ongoing, was never answered.
Nandlall told Stabroek News on Tuesday night that if the Authority fails to comply with the court’s order by the specified deadline, he will move to commence enforcement proceedings.
He says, however, that he is “hoping they hear and process the thing and grant the man his licence”.
