The compact dispute between the state of New Mexico and the Pueblo of Pojoaque heated up last week, as the tribe shut down 30 of its slot machines after Governor Susana Martinez threatened to invalidate the licenses of the companies that supply and service them.
Pojoaque is the only one of New Mexico’s 17 Native American tribes not to sign a new gaming compact tribal leaders negotiated with the state last year. The tribe objects to the revenue-sharing provision of the compact—which calls for a graduated rate of 8 percent to 10.75 percent of net slot-machine win—calling it an illegal tax.
Pojoaque has appealed to the federal courts to negotiate a compact directly with the federal Department of the Interior, claiming the state has negotiated in bad faith. Tribal attorneys claim the revenue-sharing rule violates the provision of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act prohibiting state taxation of tribal casino revenues without benefit to the tribes.
The tribe’s compact expired in June 2015, and revenue-sharing payments have been placed in escrow since then, as its case winds its way through the federal courts.
Martinez, meanwhile, claims that the tribe’s upscale Buffalo Thunder resort, Cities of Gold casino and two travel centers constitute illegal gaming operations, since the tribe is operating them without a compact as required under IGRA.
A U.S. District Court judge in Albuquerque last month agreed with the governor, clearing the way for last week’s threatened action to have the New Mexico Gaming Control Board to deny renewal of the licenses of the companies that supply slots to the casino. In addition to shutting down 30 of its 1,200 slot machines, Buffalo Thunder has stopped using shuffling machines supplied by Scientific Games in its poker rooms, according to a report in the Santa Fe New Mexican newspaper.
The 30 slots are participation games—owned and maintained by manufacturers including Scientific Games and International Game Technology. The tribe continues to operate the machines it owns.
This last fact has led to the resignation of Damon Martinez, U.S. attorney for the district of New Mexico, at the request of U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
“We’re fighting for every other tribe in this country,” Pojoaque spokesman Joe Talachy told the newspaper. “The damage was already done with the New Mexico Gaming Control Board, which threatened them with pretty heavy fines. We’re in a squeeze.”
Scientific Games released a statement indicating they will cooperate with any decision of the New Mexico gaming board. “In February of 2017, the company obtained and reviewed an order issued by a federal district court in New Mexico relating to the Pojoaque Pueblo, and we are following that order with regards to our relationship with the Pojoaque Pueblo,” said the statement by Susan Cartwright, vice president of corporate communications for Scientific Games.
