A legislative panel reviewing Gov. Bill Richardson’s proposed new gaming compacts with 11 of the state’s 13 tribes is asking for one change but won’t seek to prohibit off-reservation casinos, though the idea was discussed this weekend.
The committee voted Sunday to recommend that the compacts require tribes to set aside slot money for infrastructure on reservations that don’t have casinos, the Albuquerque Journal reported. That could produce $6 million annually for those tribes.
Richardson and the tribes must now discuss the proposed changes, which will also need approval of the Legislature.
Under the current compacts, which expire in 2015, tribes pay about 8 percent of slot revenue to the state. The deal
That will amount to at least $1 billion in additional revenue for the state over the life of the agreement, the governor’s office estimates.
One controversial proposal that didn’t make its way into the recommended changes to the governor would have banned off-reservation casinos, according to the Santa Fe New Mexican. That proposal would have effectively killed the proposal by the Jemez Pueblo and
The proposal was made by Sen. Steven Neville, R-San Juan.
But Jemez Gov. Raymond Gachupin, according to the New Mexican, urged lawmakers to not block his pueblo’s proposal, pointing out that the pueblo is going through the process set in place in federal law.
“There is a national frenzy against off-reservation gaming,” he said, according to the New Mexican. “Let the Jemez casino go through and have its chance.”
Lawmakers apparently decided to do just that.