{"id":203352,"date":"2022-03-01T16:16:55","date_gmt":"2022-03-02T00:16:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=203352"},"modified":"2022-03-02T10:27:28","modified_gmt":"2022-03-02T18:27:28","slug":"new-mexico-horse-racing-regulator-faces-ethics-complaint","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/new-mexico-horse-racing-regulator-faces-ethics-complaint\/","title":{"rendered":"New Mexico Horse Racing Regulator Faces Ethics Complaint from Racehorse Owners"},"content":{"rendered":"

A complaint filed by the New Mexico Horsemen\u2019s Association (NMHA) accuses the state\u2019s racing and gaming regulators of protecting private racetracks<\/a> that allegedly siphoned off millions of dollars.<\/p>\n

\"New
Racing at Sunland Park. The NMHA accuses the tracks of illegally withholding purse money from racehorse owners. (Image: El Paso Times<\/em>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The complaint was filed on Feb. 24 with the New Mexico State Ethics Commission and announced Monday. It claims the New Mexico Racing Commission and the New Mexico Gaming Commission have violated the constitutional and civil rights of NMHA members, as well as state laws.<\/p>\n

NMHA represents roughly 4,000 racehorse owners, breeders, and trainers in New Mexico<\/a>. The advocacy group has been engaged in a longstanding spat with the racetracks over the alleged unlawful diversion of cash towards the tracks\u2019 own expenses.<\/p>\n

Regulators Under Spotlight<\/strong><\/h2>\n

In December 2020, the NMHA sued to halt the racetracks\u2019 use of purse money to pay the tracks\u2019 liability insurance on jockeys. Over the years, this has cost the association at least $8 million, the lawsuit said.<\/p>\n

\n

Then, in May 2021, the racing commission, backed by the gambling commission, began implementing changes to allow tracks to collect and distribute the purse money, rather than the NMHA. At the same time, the commission introduced a ban on racehorse owners from making voluntary payments to the NMHA from purse money.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The horsemen\u2019s association claimed this was a retaliatory gesture, designed to defund it and silence its members.<\/p>\n

Once purse money is distributed into a racehorse owner\u2019s account at a track, the money is earned income that can be spent as the account holder wishes, says the NMHA. And that includes voluntary contributions from its members.<\/p>\n

In August 2021, New Mexico\u2019s Second District Court stayed the racing commission’s proposals. That meant racehorse owners should have been permitted to make those contributions.<\/p>\n

Breeding Contempt <\/strong><\/h2>\n

In addition to the ethics complaint, the owners\u2019 and breeders\u2019 association last week asked the court to hold the racing and gaming commissions in contempt for ignoring the order.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we have here are two state agencies that are refusing to obey a court order and refusing to follow the recommendation of its own hearing officer,\u201d NMHA attorney Gary Mitchell told The News Observer<\/em> Monday. \u201cYou can\u2019t have state agencies that ignore the courts just so they can diminish those they don\u2019t care for.”<\/p>\n

But on Monday, the racing commission claimed it was the NMHA that had been caught with its \u201chands in the cookie jar\u201d by \u201cwrongfully taking money from purses and calling it member dues.\u201d<\/p>\n

The New Mexico Racing Commission will always follow state statute and that is what we are doing. I’m sure once the Ethics Commission looks at the substance of their complaint, it will be summarily dismissed,”<\/strong> it said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In its ethics complaint, the NMHA asserted that it efficiently oversaw the distribution of tens of millions of dollars in purse money in the last two decades. Independent audits showed that \u201cnot even a penny has ever been lost or found out of place,\u201d the association claimed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A complaint filed by the New Mexico Horsemen\u2019s Association (NMHA) accuses the state\u2019s racing and gaming regulators of protecting private racetracks that allegedly siphoned off millions of dollars. The complaint was filed on Feb. 24 with the New Mexico State Ethics Commission and announced Monday. It claims the New Mexico Racing Commission and the New […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":203354,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14577,60],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nNew Mexico Horse Racing Regulator Faces Ethics Complaint<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"New Mexico Horsemen\u2019s Association files ethics complaint against New Mexico Racing Commission and Gaming Commission over prize money.\" \/>\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=\"New Mexico Horse Racing Regulator Faces Ethics Complaint\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"New Mexico Horsemen\u2019s Association files ethics complaint against New Mexico Racing Commission and Gaming Commission over prize money.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/new-mexico-horse-racing-regulator-faces-ethics-complaint\/\" \/>\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=\"2022-03-02T00:16:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-03-02T18:27:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/sunland.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1269\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"744\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\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=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/new-mexico-horse-racing-regulator-faces-ethics-complaint\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/new-mexico-horse-racing-regulator-faces-ethics-complaint\/\",\"name\":\"New Mexico Horse Racing Regulator Faces Ethics Complaint\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/new-mexico-horse-racing-regulator-faces-ethics-complaint\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/new-mexico-horse-racing-regulator-faces-ethics-complaint\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/sunland.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-03-02T00:16:55+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-03-02T18:27:28+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"New Mexico Horsemen\u2019s Association files ethics complaint against New Mexico Racing Commission and Gaming Commission over prize money.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/new-mexico-horse-racing-regulator-faces-ethics-complaint\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/new-mexico-horse-racing-regulator-faces-ethics-complaint\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/new-mexico-horse-racing-regulator-faces-ethics-complaint\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/sunland.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/sunland.jpg\",\"width\":1269,\"height\":744,\"caption\":\"Racing at Sunland Park. But the NMHA accuses the tracks of illegally withholding purse money from racehorse owners. (Image: El Paso Times)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/new-mexico-horse-racing-regulator-faces-ethics-complaint\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Sports Betting\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sportsbetting\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Horse Racing\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sportsbetting\/horse-racing\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":4,\"name\":\"New Mexico Horse Racing Regulator Faces Ethics Complaint from Racehorse Owners\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Casino.org\",\"description\":\"Latest Casino and Gaming News\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\",\"name\":\"Philip Conneller\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png\",\"caption\":\"Philip Conneller\"},\"description\":\"In Philip Conneller\u2019s eight years with Casino.org, he has covered the gaming industry from Las Vegas to Macau and everything in between. He currently focuses his coverage on gaming law, white-collar crime, global money laundering, tribal gaming, politics, and regulation. Philip was the original features editor for poker\u2019s Bluff Magazine and editor for Bluff Europe, which he helped launch. His writing has also been featured in ESPN, Forbes, Time Out, The Sun, and The Daily Star, as well as iGaming Business, eGaming Review, and numerous other industry news and tech websites. His news stories for Casino.org\/news have been linked by The Washington Post, The Daily Mail, People Magazine, and Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show, among many others. Philip once won $20,000 with 7-2 off-suit. He has been reprimanded for unwittingly playing Elton John\u2019s piano on two separate occasions on both sides of the Atlantic. He became a writer because he is a lousy pianist. Philip lives outside London with his wife and children, where he spends his time agonizing about Arsenal FC. Contact Philip at philip.conneller@casino.org.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/muckrack.com\/philip-conneller\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/philip-conneller-1495a48\/?originalSubdomain=uk\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/casinoorgphilc\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/phillip-conneller\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"New Mexico Horse Racing Regulator Faces Ethics Complaint","description":"New Mexico Horsemen\u2019s Association files ethics complaint against New Mexico Racing Commission and Gaming Commission over prize money.","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"New Mexico Horse Racing Regulator Faces Ethics Complaint","og_description":"New Mexico Horsemen\u2019s Association files ethics complaint against New Mexico Racing Commission and Gaming Commission over prize money.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/new-mexico-horse-racing-regulator-faces-ethics-complaint\/","og_site_name":"Casino.org","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews","article_published_time":"2022-03-02T00:16:55+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-03-02T18:27:28+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1269,"height":744,"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/sunland.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Philip Conneller","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@casinoorgphilc","twitter_site":"@Casino_Org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Philip Conneller","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/new-mexico-horse-racing-regulator-faces-ethics-complaint\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/new-mexico-horse-racing-regulator-faces-ethics-complaint\/","name":"New Mexico Horse Racing Regulator Faces Ethics Complaint","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/new-mexico-horse-racing-regulator-faces-ethics-complaint\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/new-mexico-horse-racing-regulator-faces-ethics-complaint\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/sunland.jpg","datePublished":"2022-03-02T00:16:55+00:00","dateModified":"2022-03-02T18:27:28+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b"},"description":"New Mexico Horsemen\u2019s Association files ethics complaint against New Mexico Racing Commission and Gaming Commission over prize money.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/new-mexico-horse-racing-regulator-faces-ethics-complaint\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/new-mexico-horse-racing-regulator-faces-ethics-complaint\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/new-mexico-horse-racing-regulator-faces-ethics-complaint\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/sunland.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/sunland.jpg","width":1269,"height":744,"caption":"Racing at Sunland Park. But the NMHA accuses the tracks of illegally withholding purse money from racehorse owners. (Image: El Paso Times)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/new-mexico-horse-racing-regulator-faces-ethics-complaint\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Sports Betting","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sportsbetting\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Horse Racing","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sportsbetting\/horse-racing\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"New Mexico Horse Racing Regulator Faces Ethics Complaint from Racehorse Owners"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/","name":"Casino.org","description":"Latest Casino and Gaming News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b","name":"Philip Conneller","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png","caption":"Philip Conneller"},"description":"In Philip Conneller\u2019s eight years with Casino.org, he has covered the gaming industry from Las Vegas to Macau and everything in between. He currently focuses his coverage on gaming law, white-collar crime, global money laundering, tribal gaming, politics, and regulation. Philip was the original features editor for poker\u2019s Bluff Magazine and editor for Bluff Europe, which he helped launch. His writing has also been featured in ESPN, Forbes, Time Out, The Sun, and The Daily Star, as well as iGaming Business, eGaming Review, and numerous other industry news and tech websites. His news stories for Casino.org\/news have been linked by The Washington Post, The Daily Mail, People Magazine, and Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show, among many others. Philip once won $20,000 with 7-2 off-suit. He has been reprimanded for unwittingly playing Elton John\u2019s piano on two separate occasions on both sides of the Atlantic. He became a writer because he is a lousy pianist. Philip lives outside London with his wife and children, where he spends his time agonizing about Arsenal FC. Contact Philip at philip.conneller@casino.org.","sameAs":["https:\/\/muckrack.com\/philip-conneller","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/philip-conneller-1495a48\/?originalSubdomain=uk","https:\/\/x.com\/casinoorgphilc"],"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/phillip-conneller\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203352"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=203352"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203352\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/203354"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=203352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=203352"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=203352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}