The New Mexico Senate voted 35-7 in favor of a proposed new gambling compact to replace the one that’s set to expire at the end of June 2015, thereby allowing the state’s Navajo Nation, Corilla, Mescal Apache and Coma Pueblo tribes to continue their gambling operations.
Despite getting approval in the senate, some legislators continue to express their concerns about possible legal liabilities in the new compact while others insist that gambling in the state should’t be allowed at all.
“Certainly the art of good negotiation is the ability to make concessions. Clearly, not everybody is happy, but that’s just the way it is,” Sen. Carlos Cicero (D-Questa) said as quoted by the Associated Press. “In real life, we tend to understand that when you negotiate a contract, there’s going to be give and take.”
Sen. Clemente Sanchez, who chairs the compact committee, said the new compact would be beneficial to the state in the short and long term. Sanchez argued that the new deal would generate more revenue than what existing compacts could offer.
The tribes’ only goal during the entire proceedings was to ensure that they retained their gambling exclusivity in exchange for the state receiving a percentage of the casinos’ net winnings. Tribal gaming generated $731 million in 2014 and Sanchez says the state’s share could possibly go as high as $77 million by 2019.
The proposal is now in the hands of the state House with tribal leaders encouraging legislators to approve the proposed compact before the Legislature adjourns on March 21, 2015. The proposal would then be sent to the US Interior Department for approval.
