Categories: Sports News
| Published On Oct 12, 2018 9:29 am CEST  |  Updated on May 6, 2021 7:13 pm CEST | By iGaming Team

New Mexico might pave way for sports betting next week

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US Bookmaking and New Mexico’s Pueblo of Santa Ana tribe revealed their plans for a sportsbook at the Santa Ana Star Casino Hotel to open this year.

The company and the tribe plans to allow their customers to do to place their bets from October 16 at the Bernalilo, New Mexico, casino which is about 10 miles north of the Albuquerque.

Though sports wagering is not completely legal in New Mexico statutes as officials from the company and the tribe believe that the wording of an existing gaming compact allows the casino to take bets without a written permission from the state legislature.  The tribes renewed the pact in 2015 which outlined the operation parameters for state’s more than 24 casinos. The tribes renewed the pact in 2015 which outlined the operation parameters for state’s more than 24 casinos in the state. It does not mention the sports betting in the agreement, thus it gives the state casinos a privilege to provide any type of Class III gaming.

Class III gaming is a category which includes betting on sporting events. When the compact was signed, an existing ban superseded New Mexico or any other state from allowing sports betting in their state. Now that New Jersey has struck down its federal ban, many states have started paving way for sports wagering. The state has failed to ban sports betting in the compact and that might be one of the reasons why the state has allowed sports gambling in the state.

John Holden, an assistant professor at Oklahoma state university said, “I think what is happening is that they are saying that we have this agreement with the state to offer this and I also believe that they are making the argument that tribal gaming compact permits state law.”

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Earlier this week the office of the Attorney General reportedly said it would issue a stance on the legal questions surrounding the compact, though it hadn’t announced anything publicly as of Tuesday afternoon.