New Mexico Online Sports Betting

Online betting in New Mexico currently consists of Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) and horse racing betting. Land-based gambling options for players in New Mexico include a wide range of tribal casinos and two commercial casinos. In great news for the state’s sports-betting aficionados, New Mexico’s Pueblo of Santa Ana tribe began offering legal sports betting in November 2018,.

However, New Mexico does not condone online casinos or poker sites and there are no pending bills before the state’s lawmakers to legalize an online gaming industry. Given any legalization push would require a complex and drawn-out legislative debate, the state’s lawmakers currently have no little stomach for making online gambling in New Mexico a likely prospect any time soon. Meanwhile, the DFS and horse betting options exist for online players in New Mexico, but nothing in the style of NJ sports betting sites for the time being at least.

New Mexico offers its visitors and residents a great Tribal Casino industry, sports betting, legal DFS competitions, horse racing betting (online and land-based), a state lottery, live poker and charitable gambling.

A flat state gambling tax of 6% on all winnings is effective in New Mexico.

Large gambling wins over $600 in the state of New Mexico may possibly attract an additional Federal Tax.

Contact your tax attorney to assess your potential Federal tax liability if you have a big win in New Mexico.

No Minimum Age Limit applies to charitable gambling in New Mexico, whilst Casinos (and therefore, sports betting too) apply a 21-years-of-age limit and all other forms of legal gaming apply an age limit of 18.

Sports betting began in New Mexico without warning in November 2018 when the Pueblo of Santa Ana Tribal Group announced that a deal with sports betting service provider to begin taking sports bets at the group’s Santa Ana Star Casino & Hotel. The news came as quite a surprise as no pending legislation existed in the New Mexico State Legislature to authorize sports betting in the state.

However, the Pueblo of Santa Ana has a 2015 tribal gaming compact with the state of New Mexico that authorizes Class III gaming, which the tribe claims includes sports betting under its banner. Under this strict interpretation of New Mexico law, tribal casinos need no authorization, nor licensing or regulatory requirement from the state to offer sports betting in their casinos.

Since then, New Mexico has become home to four bricks-and-mortar sportsbooks, each of them located within a Native American casino. Meanwhile, the State’s lawmakers are looking to authorize sports betting at New Mexico’s commercial casinos and potentially online wagering into the future.

It’s a complex issue in New Mexico, however, the Office of the Attorney General (AG) does appear to be in opposition. AG press secretary David Carl is on record as saying the AG will “closely monitor New Mexico’s tribal compacts and work with the legislature for proper statutory and regulatory oversight to require responsible gaming and enhanced integrity to create an even playing field for all.”

Times are changing rapidly and it seems that New Mexico’s AG will look to regulate and license sports betting rather than prohibit tribal casinos from offering sports wagering. We’ll update the developments as they come to hand.

New Mexico does not specifically authorize, prohibit or regulate online sports betting at all. The State Government currently has a lot of other issues (most specifically, new agreements between the Tribal Casinos and the State need to be negotiated) around sports betting keeping them occupied and sports betting online is towards the end of an extensive list.

In the meantime, (as in many other states) New Mexico’s gambling laws do not specifically need to determine a position on gambling online, as anything not covered off under the laws as a legal form of gambling in New Mexico is considered to be illegal without question;

“Internet gambling is expressly prohibited by Federal law. This falls under 31 U.S.C.A. §5361, Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act. The State of New Mexico, and the New Mexico Gaming Control Board do not regulate, license, control or in ANY way sanction, endorse or approve any Internet or on-line gambling, betting activity, wagering or any aspect thereof. Any statement, reference or opinion to the contrary is wrong. Such activity is strictly prohibited and not authorized, approved or sanctioned in any manner by New Mexico regulatory authorities.”

Clearly, New Mexico has one of the more complex potential pathways to online sports wagering legalization. Meanwhile, online players can legally play real money DFS competitions in the state and gamble online on horse and greyhound racing without running afoul of the state laws of New Mexico.

Federal lawmakers in the United States have ruled that Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) competitions are not gambling at all. Federal jurisdictions have determined DFS are skills-based games, not games of chance. Under U.S. federal law, each state has been encouraged to declare their own position on the legality of DFS competitions.

New Mexico’s lawmakers have been non-committal on DFS legalization for several years now. Meanwhile, all major DFS sites accept customers from New Mexico based on their interpretation that New Mexico’s definition of gambling does not include fantasy sports, and players resident in or visiting New Mexico can sign-up for DFS competitions without legal impediment.

When it is finally realized as a legal option for all New Mexico’s residents, and not just those who can get to the Santa Ana Star Casino & Hotel, eSports betting in the state will transform the gambling options available. A new generation of ‘family-friendly’ forms of sports betting, without any murky legal histories will be led by eSports betting.

The eSports Betting Phenomenon

eSports (‘competitive gaming’ in the most popular multi-player online video games like Starcraft II, League of Legends, Call of Duty, CS:GO and others) are a big thing these days.

A huge scene has grown from eSports early history in the underground gaming community to become a mainstream sport, and it’s growing rapidly. Professional teams and players compete in a worldwide series of tournaments that offer enormous prize pools worth millions of dollars. Tens-of-thousands-of-people attend to watch live in packed stadiums, and there are many more millions more watching online around the world. Consequently, eSports betting is growing rapidly now as a result of the exponential improvements in live video streaming technology and the resulting huge viewership numbers.

An increasing number of international sportsbooks now offer competitive betting markets across all the major network of global eSports tournaments.

As soon as there are legalized sportsbooks offered across the entire State of New Mexico, expect eSports betting markets to form a critical part of the fledgling sports betting industry in the state.

Horse Racing in New Mexico is administered by the New Mexico Racing Commission and they are responsible for approving racing events, animal welfare, simulcasting and management licensing of the state racetracks.

Trackside Betting

New Mexico is home to six racetracks and races are held throughout the year. Simulcasting of live events hosted at other U.S. tracks and international locations and associated betting facilities are available on non-race days.

Horse racing tracks in New Mexico are also permitted to host slot and video poker machines in addition to their racing betting options.

Off Track Betting (OTB) in New Mexico

OTB betting is offered at only one off-track location in New Mexico.

Online Horse Racing in New Mexico

Online racebooks are available to residents of New Mexico. All are easy to use, offering small first deposit requirements and online betting easily from your smartphone, smartwatch, tablet, other mobile device or home computer. Those over the age of 18 in New Mexico can access online horse racing betting sites that offer odds on all popular thoroughbred racing in the U.S. and major worldwide horse racing meetings.

Visit our page on New Mexico’s online gambling laws for reviews of the state’s best online casinos.