Although the tribal gambling compact that the Pojoaque Pueblo and the state negotiated over seven years expired yesterday, and the casino is technically breaking federal and state law, U.S. Attorney Damon Martinez (no relation to the governor) promised that they would not prosecute the casino for criminal activity at this time. Both the U.S. Attorney and the National Indian Gaming Commission want to wait until the lawsuit that Pojoaque brought up against Governor Martinez is settled in the 10th Circuit Court.
The U. S. Attorney assures us that he is able to tell whether or not Pojoaque is abiding with the requirements of the previous compacts by perusing reports sent to him by the Pueblo. How very trusting, considering that corporate casinos in Las Vegas, Atlantic City and in many other states and cities have FBI agents drop in on them without warning any time night or day to inspect their books, and take live-time read-outs from their slot machines.
A representative from the governor feels that attorney Martinez is too trusting stating that allowing them to remain open without proper inspection, “provides no protection to banks, credit card vendors, gaming machine vendors, advertisers, bondholders, and others that are now doing business with an illegal gambling enterprise.”
It’s interesting that the state always classifies casino activity as “gaming,” as long as they have compacts, but call it “gambling” when their compacts expire. I suspect it’s gambling the whole time, but the state doesn’t like to sign on to “gambling” activity.
An article in the Santa Fe New Mexican on the expired compacts and the U.S. Attorney’s decision to allow illegal gambling at Pojoaque to continue can be read by clicking here.
Isn’t it fun to have illegal activity protected by the federal government, much as they did in 1997. Time for the government to get out of the criminal and predatory gambling business.