The New Mexico Racing Commission awarded the state’s last non-tribal race track casino license to Racing at Raton, rejecting applications for tracks in Tucumcari and at the Downs at Santa Fe. Commission Chairman Arnold Rael said the Raton plan best serves the needs of the racing industry. The developers offered to have a 60-day race season and build 1,500 stalls. The track developers also said they will draw from a five-state area.

New Mexico’s Pojoaque Pueblo and Hilton Hotels plan to open the USD 280 million Buffalo Thunder Resort and Casino outside Santa Fe this week. Hilton manages the 390-room hotel and Pojoaque runs the 1,200-slot casino, with staff totaling more than 650. The New Mexicandescribes Buffalo Thunder as "a high-style, Las Vegas-quality casino" that will be "the state’s biggest, most expensive resort and casino."

The Navajo Nation is getting into the gambling business. The Window Rock tribe plans to build its first casino in Church Rock, N.M. Construction is expected to begin in April and the casino is slated to open in mid-October, tribal leaders announced Thursday. To fund the project, the Navajo Nation Gaming Enterprise is expected to receive a USD 35 million loan fronted by the tribe's Land Acquisition Trust Fund. Fast track construction is planned where phases are managed and awarded throughout the construction schedule rather than upfront.

The federal government has warned an Oklahoma Indian tribe not to open a planned off-reservation gambling casino along an interstate highway in southern New Mexico. The National Indian Gaming Commission told the Fort Sill Apache Tribe on Thursday that it cannot legally open the casino and risked enforcement action if gambling is permitted on the tribally owned land in New Mexico. The commission issued its letter a day after Gov. Bill Richardson ordered state police to block access to the tribe's casino if gambling was started.