Saipan casino operator Imperial Pacific International (IPI) has been warned to pay its annual license fee on time this year, although the company can’t even afford to refund gamblers’ deposits.

This week, IPI’s former contractor Pacific Rim Land Development asked a US federal court to allow it to claim the roughly $688k it claims is sitting in the casino cage at IPI’s Imperial Palace Resort. In April, Pacific Rim won a $5.6m judgment against IPI for unpaid construction work on the Resort.

Trouble is, IPI is dead broke and Pacific Rim is only one of many aggrieved former contractors seeking payment for work done. Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) legislators also claim IPI is $37m behind in payments to the Community Benefit Fund, payments that IPI is required to make as a condition of its license.

On Wednesday, the Marianas Variety quoted IPI attorney Michael Dotts telling the court that the company couldn’t release the cash in the casino cage to Pacific Rim because it belongs to gambling customers, not the company.