The compact negotiated between New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez and five of the state’s gaming tribes was approved in by a legislative committee of both chambers and has been forwarded to the Senate. If approved there It would also need to approval by the House.
New Mexico has 14 gaming tribes. Last year they reported more than $731 million in net winnings. Of that they paid $66 million to the state under a revenue-sharing provision.
Among the compact’s new provisions is one that would allow tribal casinos to be open 24/7 and offer complimentary food and lodging to high spending players as well as a minimum of $10,000 credit to high roller patrons with incomes of more than $200,000 a year.
The compact would reduce regulatory fees for the tribes while increasing the percentage of gaming profits they share with the state. The number of casinos in the state would also increase by four over the next two decades.
The tribes affected include the Navajo Nation, Acoma Pueblo, the Jicarilla Apache Nation, the Mescalero Apache Tribe and Jemez Pueblo.
Navajo Nation Council Speaker LoRenzo Bates told House lawmakers who later voted to send the compact to the Senate that the governor and tribal negotiators, “produced a gaming compact that is fair, reasonable and will continue to benefit all of us in the form of jobs and revenue for the tribes and state.”
The negotiations, spread over three years, included the Navajos, the Mescalero and Jicarilla Apache tribes, and the pueblos of Jemez and Acoma.
Some other New Mexico tribes oppose the compacts. Two tribes, the Laguna Pueblo and the Tesuque Pueblo, oppose a provision that would let tribes with populations larger than 75,000 to open a new casino within six years. Only the Navajo Nation fits that requirement.
James Rivera, a member of the Pojoaque Pueblo Tribal Council declared that Governor Martinez had negotiated in bad faith. His tribe had been negotiating with Martinez until last year, when it abandoned its effort. He said the rates in the compact amount to “double-digit” taxation.
Fort Sill tribal Chairman Jeff Haozous urged a no vote on the compact. He alleged that the document is aimed at preventing his tribe from opening a casino. The compact excludes tribes from building Class III casinos on land that was put into trust after 1988, which applies to that tribe’s land.
In a narrow vote of the committee the Fort Sill language was retained.
Jessica Hernandez, the governor’s deputy chief of staff, who led the negotiations, told reporters, “It’s a very carefully negotiated agreement that balances a lot of different interests.”
The compact calls for more transparency about casinos profits, with tribes required to submit monthly and quarterly reports.
Lawmakers are being pressured to act quickly since the previous compacts run out in June. The compacts need to be approved by March 21 for the tribes to continue to operate their casinos.
The compact also requires the approval of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
The Fort Sill tribe last week asked the New Mexico Supreme Court to intervene and require Martinez to negotiate a compact. Previously the court ordered the governor to treat the tribe in a government-to-government basis. The state had until that point insisted that the tribe was not a New Mexico tribe.
After that ruling the governor took the tack that the tribe does not qualify for a casino under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA).
According to a spokesman for Martinez, “The tribe simply does not have any eligible lands in New Mexico.” The National Indian Gaming Commission appears to agree. It has said the tribe’s reservation cannot be used for a casino.
The Fort Sill tribe has also sued to try to reverse that ruling.
The state argues that the compact excludes the Fort Sills tribe with a requirement that tribes not operate gaming on newly acquired lands. Fort Sills acquired the land it wants to use for a casino in 2002. The land is in the southern part of the state.
The tribe has a reservation on 30-acres that the federal government put into trust in 2011. It also has a reservation in Lawton, Oklahoma, where it operates a casino.
Despite those problems, attorneys for the tribe argued in filings that the Supreme Court should force the governor to sign a compact with it.
