For a third time the New Mexico Racing Commission has put off a vote to issue the state’s sixth and last license for a new racino.
The decision was somewhat against the panel’s will since it was acting after the Attorney General’s office warned that he wouldn’t be legally obligated to defend it if it was sued over the license.
The five-person panel has been the subject of a petition for a temporary injunction in district court by one of the bidders for the license, which claims the commission hasn’t studied the issue enough and that its feasibility study was flawed.
The commission has three proposals for a racino in Clovis, including one from Full House Resorts that would have a moving grandstand that could follow the horses. Another proposal would build in Tucumcari. The bidder that filed the petition is Hidalgo Downs, which has proposed a racino in Lordsburg.
The commission, urged on by the horseman’s and breeder’s industry had hoped to make a decision before the end of the year before the administration of new Governor Michelle Grisham takes office from outgoing Governor Susana Martinez. She may want to name her own commission.
The state’s existing five racinos have opposed issuing another license, arguing that another racino would cannibalize the established properties. In a letter to the commission they called the industry “far from healthy and not in need of additional forces creating additional downward pressures.”
One of the five commissioners, Gayle McCulloch, has opposed issuing another license because there is an existing casino in Farmington, where she lives.
The state’s tribal-state gaming compacts limit the number of racinos, which currently operate in Hobbs, Ruidoso, Farmington, Albuquerque and Sunland Park.
