Casino Stalker | Opinion

Editorial: Jemez off-reservation casino deserves a chance

Monday, April 18, 2011

"When the Jemez Pueblo of northern New Mexico announced plans in 2004 to build an off-reservation casino near Anthony, N.M., we were concerned that approval could open the floodgates for tribes and pueblos throughout New Mexico to open new casinos anywhere in the state.

Seven years of legal wrangling later, those concerns have pretty much been put to rest. The roadblocks thrown up to thwart the project would give any tribe pause in starting down the same path.

That doesn't mean, however, that all of our concerns have been put to rest. We have no doubt that a new casino in Anthony would cut into the business of the Sunland Park Racetrack and Casino, just as the Inn of the Mountain Gods casino in Mescalero has done to nearby Ruidoso Downs. Indian casinos have distinct, perhaps unfair, advantages over the so-called "racinos" at hose racing tracks. They pay lower tax rates and are able to offer table games, as opposed to only slots.

We are proud of the improvements made recently at Sunland Park, which two years ago launched Mine That Bird to stardom, and would hate to see the track and casino lose business. And, we are mindful of the generous offer racetrack owner Stan Fulton has made to New Mexico State University that could be lost if a new casino is opened. Early in the process, Fulton had threatened to withhold millions from his will if a casino were built with 50 miles of the track."

Get the Story:
Our View: Anthony casino probably deserves a second look (The Las Cruces Sun-News 4/17)

Federal Register Notice:
Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Proposed Pueblo of Jemez 70.277-Acre Fee-to-Trust Transfer and Casino Project, Don˜ a Ana County, NM (April 8, 2011)

Advertisement