The New Mexico Lottery Authority is studying offering a game tied to the results of sporting events, although it wouldn’t actually be sports betting as such. The state’s racing commission is calling for racetracks to be allowed to offer sports book.
Authority CEO David Barden said the Lottery’s attorneys are looking at what the Lottery is legally allowed to do.
One approach would link a lottery game to football scores, perhaps in the form of a quick pic parlay game. The lottery computer would randomly pick outcomes of three actual games. Holders of tickets where the computer guessed correctly would win.
The CEO said it was a way of generating more income. He said it was unlikely the Lottery would actually get into sports betting.
Ismael “Izzy” Trejo, executive director of the New Mexico Racing Commission, has called for the state’s racetracks to be allowed to offer sports betting. Racetracks already have too much competition, he said.
Not surprisingly, the state’s gaming tribes don’t feel that way and can be expected to argue that their state tribal gaming compacts give them a monopoly on casino-related gaming.
Under the terms of those compacts the gaming tribes have agreed to not seek to expand off-reservation Class III gaming, which would include sports book. In return the state gets a percentage of tribal slots revenue.
Rep. Antonio Maestas told CDC Gaming Reports that new compacts would need to be negotiated to allow any off-reservation sports betting. “That is a whole can of worms we may not be able to handle in the first year of a new administration,” he said, referring to the fact that the state will elect a brand new governor in November.
He would like to see a state authority offer sports book or allow sports betting vendors at racetracks and bars.
The Lottery Authority may discuss sports book games at its August meetings, according to Barden. The Racing Commission will probably also discuss the issue sooner rather than later, said Trejo. He expects a bill allowing racetracks to offer sports betting to be offered when the new legislature is seated in January.
