Slots manufacturers that do business in New Mexico and had gotten into trouble by doing business with a tribe, the Pojoaque Pueblo, while it defied the state without a gaming compact, have agreed to pay damages to the Gaming Control Board.
The Pueblo operates the Buffalo Thunder Resort & Casino.
The board had threatened not to renew the licenses for the manufacturers, which included International Game Technology, Aristocrat Technologies, Konami Gaming and Everi Games after they continued to sell and service machines for the Pueblo, which was the last tribe to refuse to sign the tribal state gaming compact that the state’s other tribes had signed. The tribe argued that the percentage of profits demanded by Governor Susana Martinez constituted an illegal tax. It took the state to federal court—and lost. The tribe agreed to sign the compact in October.
Without licenses the companies would not only not be able to sell machines to tribal casinos, but also the state’s racetracks.
The tactic helped bring the tribe to the table and agree to the compact it had opposed.
The companies agreed to pay an undisclosed fine to the Control Board, which disclosed the settlement under a Public Records Act request. The amounts were redacted from the records, but the board revealed that the amounts paid were related to the companies’ revenues from the Buffalo Thunder Resort & Casino.
Because the companies agreed to the payments, the Board agreed to renew their licenses and not to attempt any further administrative or enforcement action.
The Pueblo’s previous gaming compact expired in 2015 and it resisted Martinez’s new compact, which all the other gaming tribes eventually agreed to. The Pojoaque Pueblo being the sole holdout.
