A federal magistrate judge has ruled in favor of six New Mexico Pueblos. The state does not have the right to more than $60 million it charged the Pueblos in back revenue for free-play credits.
“It’s a common-sense observation that it makes no sense to claim revenue sharing based on something that is not, in fact, revenue,” said Richard W. Hughes, a Santa Fe attorney who represented Santa Clara and Santa Ana Pueblos in the dispute, reported the Santa Fe New Mexican.
A federal magistrate judge sided with six Northern New Mexico Pueblos: the Tribes do not owe the state the estimated $60 million for free-play credits charged by the New Mexico Gaming Control Board.
Prior gaming compacts did require the Tribes to pay the state for revenues derived from free credits, but terms were revised in 2015. The federal government recognized that those charges violated acceptable accounting practices. Former New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez charged the Pueblos for free-play “revenues” from 2011 to 2015. But the six Pueblos — Tesuque, Sandia, Isleta, Santa Clara, Santa Ana and San Felipe — filed suit against those tens of millions of dollars in charges, including $26.5 million to Sandia Pueblo.
Under New Mexico law, defense is transferred from Gov. Martinez to Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, who the Santa Fe New Mexican reports has been more respectful of Tribal opinions.
The Associated Press reported that Donovan Lieurance, the acting executive director of the New Mexico Gaming Control Board, who are defendants in the case, declined to comment as he was only recently made aware of the case.
Related to free-play, the April “Gaming” issue of Native Business Magazine examines the benefits of the popular promotional tactic across the casino industry. In the article “The House Always Wins: Is This the Case With Free-Play?” Native Business takes an analytical look at free-play. Kate Spilde, Chair of the Sycuan Institute on Tribal Gaming, and Anthony Lucas, another academic who studies the impact of free-play, break down the different types of free-play — discretionary and earned, and shed light on why measuring the benefits of free-play is a case-by-case scenario.
