The U.S. Department of Justice has seized $10.1 million in casino funds from the Pojoaque Pueblo in New Mexico that operates the Buffalo Thunder and Cities of Gold casinos north of Santa Fe.
The action is part of a longstanding dispute between the state of New Mexico and the tribe over the state’s share of earnings from the tribe’s gaming. The money was put into a separate account after the tribal state gaming compact expired in 2015.
The federal government allowed the tribe to continue operating its casinos even without a valid compact as long as the tribe abided by several conditions, such as keeping the same amount in the account that it would have paid the state if it had a valid compact.
The state and tribe signed a compact in 2017, but have continued to wrangle over who should get the impounded funds. The feds have stepped in, claiming that the money is the gains from illegal gambling. The U.S. Attorney has filed a claim in federal court to begin forfeiture proceedings.
In a statement the U.S. Attorney said, “The United States has now initiated a civil forfeiture process to address the impasse that has arisen between the state and the pueblo.”
In the complaint the U.S. Attorney wrote that the funds “are proceeds of illegal gambling, as they consist of eight percent of the net win from Class III gaming that took place on the Pueblo’s land between the expiration of the 2005 compact and the effective date of the 2017 compact.”
The tribe has accused the government of violating an agreement with them and said the action was intended to be punitive. Pojoaque Pueblo Governor Joseph M. Talachy issued this statement: “I am disappointed that the Department of Justice has chosen to pursue this course of action.” He added, “The money in this account by law should help provide food, shelter, education and other basic necessities for the Pueblo’s people, including funds to fight the overwhelming opioid epidemic that is devastating the Pueblo.”
The federal government maintains that allowing the tribe to keep the money would amount to giving it two years of operating without paying taxes.
The 2005 compact that all of the tribes were operating under specified an 8 percent payment, although the term “tax” is generally avoided in these discussions because federal law doesn’t allow the states to tax Indian tribes. When Governor Susana Martinez’s administration negotiated a higher rate with the other tribes the Pojoaque refused to sign on.
The tribe challenged the compacts in federal court, claiming that under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act that it could seek to have a compact imposed on the state by the National Indian Gaming Commission. However, in April 2017 a federal appeals court disagreed with that interpretation and under increasing pressure the tribe signed the compact last year.
