Renewal for The Greenbrier’s casino license is in question while up against deadline.
The problem still could be untangled if The Greenbrier, which is owned by Senator Jim Justice and his family business operation, submits required audit information and passes muster. The matter was spotlighted during a Lottery meeting on Friday.
For now, the casino license that brings in millions of dollars a year is non-renewed.
“Really the ball’s in The Greenbrier’s court to, hey, get us the information. If we had the information, we wouldn’t be having this conversation,” said acting Lottery Director David Bradley.
The Casino Club at the Greenbrier opened in 2010, a year after the Justice family bought the hotel out of bankruptcy.
The Greenbrier Hotel has been the regular subject of news this year because of an ongoing legal conflict with the owners of the Omni Hotels & Resorts chain. That is commingled with the claims of about $4 million in liens by the state Tax Department.
But the issue of the casino license is not directly related to those other conflicts.
Instead, it’s that The Greenbrier’s required audited financial statements were not submitted on time, so the historic resort’s limited gaming facility license renewal application is incomplete with a deadline approaching early this week.
As of Friday, The Greenbrier’s audited financials, which are required by law for renewal, were still not provided to the Lottery’s licensing division, and the independent auditor, Suttle & Stalnaker.
Under state code, the Commission “shall not issue or renew” a limited gaming facility license unless all required information, including audited financials, has been filed and reviewed.
“I want to get them licensed too, and but I want to just make sure that we follow the law and act appropriately,” Bradley said.
The Lottery routinely renewed licenses on Friday for Mardi Gras in Cross Lanes, Mountaineer Casino, Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races and Wheeling Island Gaming.
The audit information was originally due about March 20, an internal deadline used to ensure enough time before the June 30 license expiration.
Because those financials were missing for The Greenbrier, staff and counsel advised that the Lottery Commission could not yet lawfully renew the license.
Steve Ruby, a Charleston attorney who regularly works for the Justice family, came before the Lottery Commission on Friday and described a submitted request for an extension to submit the financial statements.
Ruby told commissioners the delay was because of significant staff turnover in the Greenbrier’s accounting and finance department.
Ruby indicated The Greenbrier anticipates completion of the audit by June 30 and suggested either provisional renewal or a special meeting by telephone once the audit is done.
“Certainly, I can assure the commission that the financial staff and the outside auditors have been working extremely diligently to complete the audit,” Ruby said.
“They do expect to have it completed within the within the licensing period, and we’d certainly hate to to have a gap in licensure that would lead to a reduction in revenue to the state, potential impacts on the employment of the people who work at the casino and so forth.”
Commissioners wound up approving a motion to not renew the Greenbrier’s license as of Friday because of the incomplete audit. The commission agreed to reconsider the renewal later if and when The Greenbrier submits the audited financials and once the review is completed without issue.
At that point, the Lottery director would call a special meeting with notice to the Secretary of State to take up the renewal before or as close as possible to the June 30 license expiration.
“So today I think you know it would be appropriate to deny the license,” Bradley, the acting Lottery director, said on Friday.
“And then at the appropriate time when the information is submitted, we’ll take the necessary steps and the appropriate action to look at the renewal.”
The current license remains valid through June 30, which is Tuesday.
If the required financials are not submitted and reviewed in time, and no renewal is approved, the Greenbrier’s casino would have to go dark when the license expires.
“In the event that the financials are not submitted timely, and/or there are issues with financials that might arise, then the licenses themselves aren’t going to be renewed, and the gaming and so forth, would be suspended in its entirety,” said Lottery Chairman Ken Greear.