{"id":102104,"date":"2019-04-04T08:16:50","date_gmt":"2019-04-04T15:16:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=102104"},"modified":"2019-04-04T08:16:50","modified_gmt":"2019-04-04T15:16:50","slug":"federal-court-sides-with-new-mexico-tribes-on-60-million-rev-share-bill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/federal-court-sides-with-new-mexico-tribes-on-60-million-rev-share-bill\/","title":{"rendered":"Federal Court Sides With New Mexico Tribes Over $60 Million Bill on Non-Existent Revenues"},"content":{"rendered":"

A federal judge in New Mexico has ruled the states\u2019 assertion that six of its tribal operators owe millions in revenue-share back payments is based on flawed accounting, The Santa Fe New Mexican<\/em> reports.<\/p>\n

\"New
The Black Mesa Casino at San Felipe Pueblo, between Albuquerque and Santa Fe was one of the casinos that took the state to court over its claim for revenue-share payments related to free slots play. (Image: San Felipe Pueblo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In 2017, the New Mexican Gaming Control Board requested payment<\/a> of more than $60 million from most of the state\u2019s 14 tribal operators \u2013 a demand related to the free-play credits operators load onto customer rewards cards.<\/p>\n

Under the terms of the tribes\u2019 previous compact, which expired in 2015, operators were required to treat credits lost by customers through freeplay as revenue to be shared with the state, despite the fact that no such revenue actually existed.<\/p>\n

So, if customer played with $10 of free credits and lost $8 — as slots \u201cwin,\u201d that $8 would be subject to revenue share, with the state taking around 9 percent.<\/p>\n

Naked Cash Grab<\/strong><\/h2>\n

In 2015, the federal government agreed with the tribes that the system was not in line with standard accounting practices and it was removed from new compacts that year. But the state still believed it was entitled to a share of freeplay revenues from 2011 to 2015 when the system was still in place.<\/p>\n

In 2017, the pueblos of Isleta, Sandia, Tesuque, Santa Ana<\/a>, Santa Clara and San Felipe filed a lawsuit against the state arguing its demands amounted to little more than a naked cash grab — \u201ca specious attempt to reach deeper into the pockets of New Mexico\u2019s Native American tribes\u201d — at a time when the legislature was looking for a convenient way of plugging a $70 million budget shortfall.<\/p>\n

This week, the judge agreed.<\/p>\n

‘Complete Vindication’ for New Mexico Tribes<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a common sense observation that it makes no sense to claim revenue sharing based on something that is not, in fact, revenue,\u201d said Richard W. Hughes, lawyer for the Santa Clara and Santa Ana pueblos, who added that the tribes \u201cfeel like it was a complete vindication of [their] position, a position we\u2019ve taken consistently for the 10, 12 years this dispute has been going on.\u201d<\/p>\n

The state could appeal, a decision that will be up to New Mexico\u2019s new Democratic governor Michelle Lujan Grisham. But the new governor is more sensitive to tribal interests than her predecessor, Susana Martinez, which makes an appeal less likely.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday Lujan Grisham signed a bill into law that replaces the Columbus Day holiday in New Mexico with Indigenous People\u2019s Day.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A federal judge in New Mexico has ruled the states\u2019 assertion that six of its tribal operators owe millions in revenue-share back payments is based on flawed accounting, The Santa Fe New Mexican reports. In 2017, the New Mexican Gaming Control Board requested payment of more than $60 million from most of the state\u2019s 14 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":102105,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,60,18,18456],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nFederal Court Sides With New Mexico Tribes On $60 Million Rev-Share Bill<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"New Mexico tribes will not have to pay more than $60 million to the state in revenue share back payments related to freeplay bonus credits on slots.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Federal Court Sides With New Mexico Tribes On $60 Million Rev-Share Bill\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"New Mexico tribes will not have to pay more than $60 million to the state in revenue share back payments related to freeplay bonus credits on slots.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/federal-court-sides-with-new-mexico-tribes-on-60-million-rev-share-bill\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-04-04T15:16:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/black-mesa.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgphilc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/federal-court-sides-with-new-mexico-tribes-on-60-million-rev-share-bill\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/federal-court-sides-with-new-mexico-tribes-on-60-million-rev-share-bill\/\",\"name\":\"Federal Court Sides With New Mexico Tribes On $60 Million Rev-Share Bill\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/federal-court-sides-with-new-mexico-tribes-on-60-million-rev-share-bill\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/federal-court-sides-with-new-mexico-tribes-on-60-million-rev-share-bill\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/black-mesa.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-04-04T15:16:50+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-04-04T15:16:50+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"New Mexico tribes will not have to pay more than $60 million to the state in revenue share back payments related to freeplay bonus credits on slots.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/federal-court-sides-with-new-mexico-tribes-on-60-million-rev-share-bill\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/federal-court-sides-with-new-mexico-tribes-on-60-million-rev-share-bill\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/federal-court-sides-with-new-mexico-tribes-on-60-million-rev-share-bill\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/black-mesa.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/black-mesa.png\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":800,\"caption\":\"The Black Mesa Casino at San Felipe Pueblo, between Albuquerque and Santa Fe was one of the casinos that took the state to court over its claim for revenue-share payments related to free slots play. 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