The Navajo tribe and Jicarilla Pueblo are the first of the gambling tribes to reach agreement with Governor Martinez’ negotiators on terms of the compacts. The compacts will next go to a legislative Committee on Compacts that will study them and make recommendations to the legislature to either accept or reject them.
The Jicarilla Pueblo, the smallest of the gambling tribes with the smallest gambling take agrees to the revenue-sharing provisions of the compact which requires them to pay two percent of yearly revenue up to the amount of $6 million, after which they will be required to pay 8.5% of winnings above the $6 million. Other provisions of the Jicarilla compact comply with the compacts with the tribes in 2007.
The Navajo Nation has agreed to the same revenue sharing provisions that the 2007 compacts enacted. Since the Navajo casinos bring in about $80 million a year in net winnings, the revenue sharing to the state is expected to go up from the current 8 percent to 9 percent over the first three years of the agreement. It would thereafter increase to 10 percent in 2018 and to 10.75 percent in 2030.
A new provision of the compacts over the 2007 iteration is that tribes with over 75,000 enrolled members will be allowed to have up to three Class III casinos and a “legacy” operation that can have only 120 slots. This membership requirement only applies to the Navajo tribe. Since the previous compacts allow only two casinos, unless an additional casino is grandfathered in, the addition of a third casino could be a deal-breaker.
An article in the Santa Fe New Mexican on the new compacts can be read here.
It’s hard to imagine that the other tribes will be happy with an additional Navajo casino, basically because of the additional competition. Tribal net win in the first three quarters of 2014 was approximately $20 million less than the same period in 2013. A new casino will further reduce net win for the pre-existing casinos, which will be a deal-breaker for them.
Certainly Stop Predatory Gambling New Mexico will take a position against an additional casino in the state, since we oppose any expansion of gambling here. We will attend committee hearings and legislative sessions to make our position clear. We don’t need additional casinos to be a drag on the economy and a blight on our citizens.