The New Mexico State Auditor is backing the state’s gaming tribes in their dispute with the New Mexico Gaming Control Board over the issue of “free play.”
“Free play” is the name for complimentary casino credits that patrons are given. The state insists that this should be used when calculating how much revenue the tribe is obligated to pay to the state. The tribes refuse, saying that this interpretation violates their state tribal gaming compacts.
The Auditor’s office is siding with the tribes. In a report completed late last year the Auditor found that the board is using an accounting method that is contrary to the compacts, which have been in force since 2001.
The auditor, Hector Balderas, has since then become attorney general of the state.
