Tribes propose lid on slots at tracks

Saturday, Feb. 12, 2000 | 9:59 a.m.

Also under the proposal, casino payments would be reduced if racetracks were allowed more than the current limit of 300 machines each.

The provisions are included in the tribes' latest blueprint for a new gambling proposal, delivered to lawmakers on Friday by Gov. Gary Johnson.

Casinos would pay the state 7.5 percent of their slot machine proceeds and the agreements would last 22 years, under the tribes' proposal. Tribes that haven't paid the state in full under existing compacts would have to do so before they signed the new pacts.

"We hope that this latest version will win your support," Johnson said in a letter to the Legislature's Committee on Compacts.

But the panel's vice chairman, Sen. John Arthur Smith, D-Deming, said the latest offer from tribes would be "a tough sell."

Smith said many lawmakers may view the 7.5 percent as too low, the 22 years as too high, and the limit on racetrack slot machines as unfair.

Tribes in their proposal said they couldn't agree to anything above 7.5 percent, and they rejected the 18-year compact duration the Committee on Compacts suggested.

Most of the 11 tribes with casinos are eager to sign new agreements to replace the 1997 compacts that require them to pay 16 percent of their slot machine proceeds to the state. The tribes say 16 percent is illegally high and most aren't paying it.

Under a new compact-negotiation law, the legislative committee could ask for more changes, but it's not clear whether it would.

Johnson's lawyer and negotiator, David McCumber, said in a letter that the back-and-forth process "may have accomplished all that it reasonably can," and he urged that the latest offer be put before the Legislature for a vote before the session ends next Thursday.

The tribes' latest offer includes a complex proposal for ending, or reducing, revenue sharing payments under certain circumstances.

Payments would be ended if the total number of machines at tracks exceeded 2,100, or if tracks were allowed more than 300 machines each without offering more days of live horse racing.

Payments would be reduced if tracks that did offer more live racing were allowed more than 300 machines. But the reduction would depend on how far the casino was located from the track.

For example, if a track were allowed up to 500 slot machines, the payment obligation of any casino within 125 miles would be reduced by 60 percent. Payments from all other casinos would be reduced by 10 percent.

The formula also provides for reduced payments for any casino within 125 miles of a track that is allowed to operate for more than 12 hours a day.