{"id":1116,"date":"2007-01-17T17:41:00","date_gmt":"2007-01-17T23:41:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/01\/tiguas-propose-off-reservation-casino-in-chaparral\/"},"modified":"2007-01-17T17:41:00","modified_gmt":"2007-01-17T23:41:00","slug":"tiguas-propose-off-reservation-casino-in-chaparral","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/01\/tiguas-propose-off-reservation-casino-in-chaparral\/","title":{"rendered":"Tiguas propose off-reservation casino in Chaparral"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Tigua Indian tribe of El Paso<\/st1:city>, whose casino in Texas<\/st1:state> closed in 2002, has proposed building a new facility on 10 acres near Chaparral in New Mexico<\/st1:place><\/st1:state>.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

News of the project, reported today by the Albuquerque Journal<\/a>, further complicates the debate over off-reservation casinos. It\u2019s the second such proposal for Do\u00f1a<\/st1:placename> Ana<\/st1:placename> County<\/st1:placename> and the third in Southern New Mexico<\/st1:place>.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

But it\u2019s also possible that the move by the Tiguas is a political ploy to try to pressure Texas<\/st1:place><\/st1:state> to allow it to reopen a casino there.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The Jemez Pueblo and Santa Fe<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> art deal Gerald Peters want to build a casino in Anthony. It\u2019s located just 10 miles from the Sunland Park Racetrack and Casino, which brings up the most politically charged aspect of the Tigua proposal \u2013 at least as it relates to New Mexico<\/st1:place><\/st1:state> politics.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

In his will, Stan Fulton, the Sunland<\/st1:placename> Park<\/st1:placetype> racetrack owner, grants New Mexico<\/st1:place><\/st1:state> State University half ownership of his casino upon his death. In an attempt to drag NMSU and the state\u2019s political leaders into the fight over approval of the Jemez project, Fulton<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> changed that provision shortly after news of the Jemez project broke in 2004.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Now, NMSU only gets half ownership if there isn\u2019t another casino built within 50 miles of his casino. That pressures NMSU to fight against approval of any other casinos in southern Do\u00f1a<\/st1:placename> Ana<\/st1:placename> County<\/st1:placename><\/st1:place>.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The land where the Tiguas propose to build in Chaparral is about 15 miles from Sunland<\/st1:placename> Park<\/st1:placetype><\/st1:place>.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The Tiguas operated Speaking Rock Casino in El Paso<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> for nine years, according to the Journal. In federal court, former Texas Attorney General successfully argued that the tribe was subject to a state law prohibiting casino gambling, and the casino closed in 2002.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The tribe has been looking to get back into the lucrative business ever since. Last month, the Tiguas asked the Bureau of Indian Affairs to place 10 acres on New Mexico Highway 213 along the Texas\/New Mexico border into trust. The tribe holds a three-year option to buy the land for $150,000, the Journal reported.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The proposal would have to be approved, like other off-reservation projects, by the secretary of the U.S. Interior Department and the New Mexico<\/st1:place><\/st1:state> governor. The process takes a minimum of two years.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The BIA has said it\u2019s highly unlikely that off-reservation casino proposals that cross state lines will be approved, so the Tiguas\u2019 bid is a long shot, and they must know it. But their proposal might also be for show: El Paso<\/st1:city> recently lost an amusement park and its tax revenue to Sunland<\/st1:placename> Park<\/st1:placetype><\/st1:place>. The Tiguas might be betting that the threat of them moving to New Mexico<\/st1:state> might help pressure Texas<\/st1:place><\/st1:state> to allow them to reopen Speaking Rock.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

According to a Tuesday article in the El Paso Times<\/a>, the Tiguas are hoping to press Texas<\/st1:place><\/st1:state> to allow gambling this year. The tribe has convinced several area local governments to pass resolutions in support of the proposal as part of a massive public relations campaign.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

It\u2019s also noteworthy that Speaking Rock or a new Tigua facility in Texas<\/st1:state> likely also falls within Fulton<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>\u2019s 50-mile requirement. It\u2019s unclear whether such a casino, since one existed before Fulton<\/st1:city> added the provision to his will, would void NMSU\u2019s ownership of Fulton<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>\u2019s casino.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Tigua Indian tribe of El Paso, whose casino in Texas closed in 2002, has proposed building a new facility on 10 acres near Chaparral in New Mexico. News of the project, reported today by the Albuquerque Journal, further complicates the debate over off-reservation casinos. It\u2019s the second such proposal for Do\u00f1a Ana County and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1116","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1116","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1116"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1116\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1116"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1116"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1116"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}