The Greenbrier has submitted financial information for a mandatory annual audit that has the historic resort up against the clock on the renewal of its casino license.
What The Greenbrier needs now is an expedited meeting of the state Lottery Commission to approve the license renewal before the month ends Tuesday.
“The audit has been completed and was submitted to the Lottery Commission this morning. The Commission voted last Friday that once the audit was submitted, it would call a special meeting to approve the renewal of The Greenbrier’s casino license,” said Charleston attorney Steve Ruby, representing The Greenbrier.
State officials agreed that the financial material had been submitted, although it was not yet clear Monday evening that a snap meeting to approve the license renewal had been scheduled. The Secretary of State’s page did not yet list such a meeting and neither did the Lottery’s own meeting notices.
In West Virginia, an emergency meeting is called to address an unexpected event requiring immediate attention. Under the West Virginia Open Governmental Meetings Act, such meetings are strictly reserved for situations posing an imminent threat to public health or safety, severe property damage or major financial loss.
Unlike regular or special meetings, which have strict multi-day posting requirements, emergency meeting notices must be filed with the West Virginia Secretary of State and publicly posted “as soon as practicable” prior to the meeting.
The state Ethics Commission advises, “Governing bodies should exercise caution when calling an emergency meeting.”
The casino at The Greenbrier, which is owned by Senator Jim Justice and his family, brings in millions of dollars a year as a tourism destination, employer and tax source. If this matter somehow can’t be resolved by the end of the month, which also represents the end of the fiscal year, it would potentially go dark until there is a resolution.
Lottery officials have suggested the loss of revenue to the state would be the reason for the emergency meeting: “There would be emergency, because there would be loss of revenue to the state, so we want to prevent that.”
Doing so, acting Lottery Director David Bradley said on Friday, could be as simple as filing notice with the Secretary of State and then swiftly meeting. “I could tell them at 10 o’clock; we could have the meeting at 11,” Bradley told commissioners.
This situation emerged late last week when members of the state Lottery Commission concluded they could not renew the Greenbrier casino license yet.
At the time, 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.
The audit information was originally due about March 20, an internal deadline used to ensure enough time before the June 30 license expiration.
The Lottery routinely renewed licenses on Friday for Mardi Gras in Nitro, Mountaineer Casino, Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races and Wheeling Island Gaming.
Because the financials were missing for The Greenbrier, staff and counsel advised that the Lottery Commission could not yet lawfully renew the license.
“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,” Lottery’s Bradley said Friday.
Ruby, a Charleston attorney who regularly works for the Justice family, told commissioners the delay was because of significant staff turnover in the Greenbrier’s accounting and finance department.
“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.”