Newly inaugurated New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham has requested more information on the process of awarding a license to a racino by the state’s racing commission. That would include how the sixth and final license will be awarded, and information on the five applicants for that license.
The New Mexico Racing Commission has promised to respond with the information the governor seeks. Since the commission was appointed by her predecessor, she could keep it in place or replace it with her own commissioners.
Commission Chairman Ray Willis last week noted that the commission last year hired an independent review and feasibility study of the five applicants which the commission received in November. It used that document in reviewing the applicants. Willis promised to post the document on the commission’s website.
However, one of the applicants, Hidalgo Downs, has gummed up the process by filing a complaint that the review was incomplete. The study concluded that its proposed racino in Lordsburg, in the southwestern part of New Mexico would produce less revenue that other projects proposed for Clovis and Tucumcari.
Other applicants include a proposal for a racino in Clovis and two in Tucumcari.
The tribal state gaming compacts with New Mexico’s gaming tribes limits the state to six racinos.
Nevertheless, Willis said the commission remains committed to issuing a sixth license. He added that it is awaiting the resolution of the petition filed by Hidalgo Downs in district court. It is seeking a temporary injunction to stop the process. Other applicants have filed to intervene in the case.
This issue has delayed the process since December after the Attorney General’s office said it wouldn’t defend the commission if it went forward with awarding the license.
The five casinos that already have licenses in Hobbs, Ruidoso, Farmington, Albuquerque and Sunland Park oppose a sixth license being issued, arguing it will dilute their profits. They sent a letter to the commission describing the market as “far from healthy.”
The Santa Fe New Mexican uncovered the fact that the five racino owners contributed at least $60,000 to the governor’s campaign last year, with $25,000 coming from just one of them.
In a related development, Grisham named Lynn Trujillo, a member of the Sandia Pueblo, to lead New Mexico’s Indian Affairs Department, which is charged with relations between the tribes and state government. Trujillo most recently was a Native American coordinator at the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
