Compulsive & Problem Gambling
The Gaming Control Act and Board rules require that gaming operator licensees maintain a compulsive gambling plan.
Racetrack gaming operator licensees are required to contribute one quarter of one percent of net slot revenues toward the prevention, education, and treatment of compulsive gambling. The Tribal-State Gaming Compacts impose the same requirement on tribal gaming operators.
Monies set aside for compulsive gambling have been allocated to problem gambling counseling, personnel training for problem gambling behavior recognition, gambling help line advertisements, brochures that address problem gambling, participation in the New Mexico Problem Gambling Alliance,and crisis intervention and prevention programs.
The Gaming Control Board has also included in its electronic searchable database the names of persons who have self-excluded from a racetrack gaming operator licensee’s premises, pursuant to SB299, which was passed during the 2009 regular session, now incorporated as Section 60-2E-34.1 of the Gaming Control Act. This function of the database allows racetrack gaming operators to identify, exclude from their premises and confiscate the winnings of persons who have placed themselves on the self-exclusion list. The Gaming Control Board believes that this self-exclusion is a crucial component of problem gaming abatement.