No racino: Racing commission declines to award sixth license

ALBUQUERQUE - Regulators wanted to dispell false hopes in announcing today that a sixth racino license would not be awarded, according to the New Mexico Racing Commission's executive director.

"The commission felt compelled to not leave false hope out there in the open, to do something that seems more definitive," Izzy Trejo told The News on Thursday afternoon.

NMRC's official statement today is that it "has decided not to issue a sixth racing license" and "has left open the possibility of issuing it in the future, but not before significant analysis of the horseracing industry has been completed," Trejo said.

As for the industry analysis still desired by the commission, Trejo said "they need to take an overall look at the health of the industry, (to include) but not entirely just based on a review of race dates, available horse population and race meet overlaps."

Trejo could not venture a timeline for when that analysis would take place but said "this isn't going to get any jump start any time soon."

The previous board of commissioners began the process of soliciting applications in April 2017 and last year attended on-site presentations from five groups vying for the state's sixth and last available license for a horse-racing and slot gaming enterprise. Three groups proposed multi-million dollar projects in Clovis and one each applied for Tucumcari and Lordsburg. A decision originally anticipated in December was stalled by legal action, then the governor's dismissal this year of the previous commission and appointment of new members.

"The matter was tabled indefinitely at the May 16 commission meeting," Trejo said, and commissioners were again questioned about it during a July 12 meeting in Cloudcroft.

Trejo said he has had no indication that the commission's decision had anything to do with input from the existing five racino license holders.

The News reached out Thursday to representatives of the three groups that submitted applications for Clovis: L&M Entertainment, Full House Resorts and Clovis Racetrack and Casino, LLC.

Shaun Hubbard, heading the Clovis Racetrack group, said he remained "committed" to the state's horse racing industry and encouraged the many who could benefit from it to "stay positive.

"I feel bad for a lot of people because they've invested a lot of time and effort into seeing this come to something, and that's disappointing...There's a lot of people missing out if this doesn't happen," Hubbard told The News. "I'm still, as a horse enthusiast, as an equine-passionat person, I hope that it comes to fruition, whether it's next week, next month, next year. It's just too big of an opportunity that lays right in front of us for all of us involved - from the state of New Mexico, local communities, Curry County, Clovis, surrounding areas - to benefit from, quite frankly, the surrounding states' revenues and put people to work."

Representatives of L&M and Full House said Thursday afternoon they were working on statements responding to the decision.

Trejo said "it's not my position to interject my personal feelings into a business matter that entails several entities" but that the commission's priorities going forward would be "to continue to focus on animal welfare, protection of the equine athletes, public image of the racing industry."

NMRC Chair Beverly Bourget did not immediately respond to a message Thursday from The News.