The New Mexico Racing Commission said Wednesday it would announce on Aug. 25 which town would receive a license for a horse-racing track and casino, reported the Clovis News Journal.
it’s down to three finalists — Santa Fe, Raton and the Route 66 town of Tucumcari.
The time the announcement will be made is 1:30 p.m. local time.
Other racetracks from behind the state have thrown their support to Raton getting the license. The other tracks are afraid a track in Santa Fe or Tucumcari would be too close to a new track in Moriarty, which the state recently approved a move to from Albuquerque.
But Warren Frost, executive director of the Quay County Gaming Authority, disagreed:
The Moriarty track will draw attendance from the Albuquerque metropolitan area, and not from West Texas, where Tucumcari foresees most of its draw, Frost said.
“Putting the racetrack in Tucumcari is in the best interest of New Mexico horseracing and under those circumstances we should be the winner,” Frost said.
Raton is the only logical location for the track and casino. Raton was the location of New Mexico’s first racetrack, La Mesa Park, which was in operation from 1946 to 1992, when it went bankrupt as Indian casinos began to encroach on the financial viability of the state’s racetracks. Having a previously existing race tracks should take priority, as stated, and proves the stability and positive financial economic viability that a race track/casino will have. Raton had three states that it had previously drawn from-Texas, Oklahoma and Colorado. Tucumcari and Santa Fe will have direct competition from Moriarty to compete against as well as numerous close, large, tribal Indian casinos.