New Mexico

While sports betting is legal in New Mexico, some strict restrictions exist. As it stands, bettors can only place legal wagers at the five tribal casinos in the state, and there are no online betting options.

The rules regarding betting on college sports in New Mexico can be confusing. There are two major college programs in the state, New Mexico State and University of New Mexico, and the ability to bet on these teams varies by tribal casino. While no specific rules exist, some tribal casinos, like the Santa Ana Star Casino, prohibit wagers on in-state colleges. In contrast, other casinos will accept bets on them.

Outside of retail sports betting, residents or tourists of the Land of Enchantment can also download and use daily fantasy sports apps or place bets on horse races in person or online. Some apps for these markets include PrizePicks, Fliff, and TVG.

New Mexico’s racing legacy: Can horse betting keep up with sports wagering?

Horse racing has been a focal point of New Mexico’s gambling industry for decades, with historic tracks like Sunland Park, Ruidoso Downs, and Albuquerque Downs playing a vital role in the state’s economy. The industry has long attracted both locals and visitors, generating revenue through pari-mutuel betting and casino partnerships at racinos. However, with the rise of sports betting at tribal casinos, traditional horse wagering is at a crossroads.

While New Mexico does not have statewide mobile sports betting, in-person sportsbooks at tribal casinos have created new gambling opportunities that appeal to new-age bettors. Sports wagering provides more betting variety and higher engagement through live betting and in-game wagers—elements that traditional horse betting may fall short in. As a result, some industry experts worry that horse racing may struggle to keep pace with modern betting trends.

To stay competitive, New Mexico’s horse racing industry is adjusting by offering digital wagering platforms like TVG and TwinSpires, which allow remote betting on races. Additionally, racetracks are starting to leverage casino gaming revenue to boost race purses and attract high-volume bettors. However, unless horse racing modernizes further, sports betting could eventually outshine its long-standing presence, reshaping New Mexico’s gambling landscape moving forward.

Online sports betting in The Land of Enchantment

The state of New Mexico and its local tribes entered a standard gaming compact back in 2001. It wasn’t until 2015 that this gaming compact would need to be renegotiated and signed, allowing 14 of the 17 gaming tribes in the state to offer Class III Gaming. No one would know it at the time, but this new gaming compact would eventually lead to legal sports betting in New Mexico.

Three years after this new gaming compact was signed, the Supreme Court overturned PASPA, which put the legalization of sports betting into the hands of individual states. Instead of the state government taking the initiative, the Pueblo of Santa Ana Tribe opened the state’s first sportsbook in October 2018. While no sports betting bill was in place, the tribe felt they could open this sportsbook since the gaming compact they signed said nothing about being unable to offer sports betting.

The Santa Ana Star Casino remained the only legal place to make a sports wager for seven months, and when other tribes realized the state was not stepping in to stop them, more sportsbooks started to pop up.

Since 2018, lawmakers in the state have made one full-fledged effort to pass a sports betting bill. In 2021, HB 101 was introduced, and if passed, it would have legalized sports betting online and in retail form at the state's five racinos.

Despite its great promise, this bill died in the House Education Committee. Since then, no bills have been introduced regarding the actual legalization of sports betting; instead, lawmakers have proposed studies to determine how profitable the market could be. Unfortunately, none of these proposals have been passed, and a groundbreaking change is unlikely to happen in 2025.

Sports betting and gambling legislation in NM

Bettors must be at least 21 to place a legal sports wager in New Mexico. This is one of the lone gambling rules that applies to all five tribal casinos and race tracks in the state. As we’ve noted with betting on college sports, other restrictions vary by tribal casino.

Since there are no legal sports betting apps available in the state, bettors also do not have the option to utilize remote registration. Since sports betting is legal through gaming compacts, no regulatory body oversees the market, as each tribal gaming commission regulates its operation. The US Bureau of Indian Affairs oversees all gaming tribes throughout the country.

Since there are no mobile sports betting apps in New Mexico, it makes sense that online casinos and online poker remain illegal in the state. While these markets would be excellent additions to the state's betting landscape, the current focus seems to be on mobile sports betting. So, even if mobile sports betting ever sees the light of day, that does not guarantee that iGaming will as well.

Hot air balloon wagering: A new frontier for New Mexico casinos

Every year, the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta fills the New Mexico sky with a breathtaking array of colorful hot air balloons. But could this cherished event also become a betting attraction? This would create a world where spectators and gamblers alike could wager on which balloon will travel the farthest, which pilot will make the most precise landing, or even which balloon will remain in the air the longest. With the unpredictable nature of wind patterns and skillful piloting techniques, balloon racing could generate a thrilling gambling market similar to horse racing.

Casinos and sportsbooks could provide odds on various markets, but of course, this market would have to pique the interest of the state's gambling tribes. Since online sports betting is not available in the state, the racinos run by the gambling tribes would be the only places that could offer such a market.

Most recent updates from the NM sports betting scene

• February 19, 2025: With a 22-4 record, the New Mexico Lobos are (+4000) to reach the Final Four of the NCAA Tournament.

• January 30, 2025: The New Mexico Lobos are (-220) to make the NCAA Tournament on DraftKings.

• January 24, 2025: Heading into the end of January, the New Mexico Lobos have the second-best odds to win the Mountain West regular season title at (+125).

• December 6, 2024: The New Mexico Lobos have lost their head coach, Bronco Mendenhall, and offensive coordinator, Jason Beck, to other colleges. As a result, star quarterback Devon Dampier has entered the transfer portal.

• November 26, 2024: To close out their regular season, New Mexico State is set to host UTEP as (-3) point favorites.

• November 19, 2024: Looking for their first win since October 15th, New Mexico State will head to Middle Tennesee State where they are (+3) point underdogs.

• November 18, 2024: Legendz Social Sportsbook opens in New Mexico and 42 other US states, offering high RTP and free play. Players 18+ enjoy daily rewards, props, parlays, and real prize opportunities across multiple sports.

• November 13, 2024: In one of their toughest games of the season, the New Mexico Lobos are set to host Washington State as (+12.5) point underdogs.

In-person sports betting sites and locations

Tribal casinos and commercial racinos are spread throughout the Land of Enchantment, but only five of those tribal casinos have decided to offer legal sports betting to their customers.

Just because there are five locations now does not mean that number can’t increase over time. Each tribal casino in the state is under a gaming compact that allows Class III gaming, which includes sports betting, so if another location wants to offer legal sports betting at some point, it can.

Micro-Wagers and Martians: Gamifying the Roswell UFO Festival

Each summer, the Roswell UFO Festival turns this quiet New Mexico town into a galactic hub for aliens, conspiracy theorists, and curious tourists. However, beyond tinfoil hats and green body paint, this quirky celebration presents surprising potential for novelty wagering that could bring fresh tax revenue into the state’s gaming market if legislation ever expands to permit it.

Tourists and locals could make micro-wagers on outcomes like “Most Creative Alien Costume,” “First Reported UFO Sighting,” and more. Festival-goers could also bet on whether attendance will surpass last year’s total. With established contests, parades, and public turnout data already tracked by organizers, this market may be more feasible than one would imagine. 

Even a modest 0.05% of New Mexico’s potential annual betting handle diverted to Roswell-themed props could result in thousands of additional wagers and seasonal tax revenue while providing festival fans a new reason to engage. This kind of cultural betting wouldn't just be about cash; it would “beam” more light on an exciting festival. In a place where alien landing speculation is part of the fun, betting on it might just be the next step in profiting off the stories told throughout the years.

Can you place a bet at the exact four corners? Multi-state betting loopholes explored

The Four Corners Monument is a geographical anomaly where New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, and Colorado meet at a single point. In theory, a curious bettor could stand directly on the marker and attempt to place wagers in four different states at once—but would it actually work?

Most online sportsbooks rely on advanced geotracking technology that uses GPS signals, WiFi triangulation, and IP tracking to confirm a bettor's exact location. While someone physically touching all four states at once might seem like a legal gray area, sportsbooks have fail-safes to prevent location spoofing or boundary exploits, as bettors have tried just about anything to place a bet over the years. 

Colorado and Arizona allow mobile sports betting, while Utah outright bans it, so placing simultaneous bets in all four states would almost certainly trigger fraud detection systems. While the idea of a “Four-State Betting Trick” is fun to imagine, sportsbooks have made sure that even standing in a legal loophole won’t beat their technology.

Sports betting in neighboring states

A resident of New Mexico has a 50/50 chance of encountering legalized sports betting when crossing the state line. If they venture into Colorado or Arizona, they will discover a variety of legal mobile betting apps and retail casinos featuring sportsbooks.

At the same time, if they end up in Texas or Oklahoma, they will find even fewer betting options than the ones offered in New Mexico. To learn more about why TX and OK have been unable to legalize sports betting, you can click the state’s name in the box below.

Potential sports betting revenue impact on New Mexico's economy

Often, when a state's government has minimal involvement in gambling or sports betting, the state's reports on handle, revenue, and tax income become unavailable. This is true for New Mexico, where we have no data to present for those areas. As long as the Land of Enchantment restricts sports betting to tribal casinos, this situation is likely to persist.

The tax rate for tribal casinos in New Mexico varies based on their adjusted net revenue. For example, from 2018 to 2030, if a casino makes between $40 and $80 million in revenue, it is subject to an 8.75% tax rate. That number could either go up or down depending on which revenue bracket the casino falls into during a fiscal year.

Some states that either do not have sports betting or only allow it in a limited capacity will conduct studies to estimate how much revenue the state could generate from sports betting. While New Mexico has attempted to pass proposals to permit these studies, they have been unsuccessful.

Therefore, to estimate the potential profitability of mobile wagering in NM, we can only compare it to other similar US states and their legal betting markets. By population, the closest state is West Virginia, which receives around $500 million worth of real-money bets annually. These result in, on average, approximately $50 million in sportsbook operators' revenue and $4-5 million in tax income for the state.

Breaking Bad tourism meets prop betting: Wagers are trivia nights and filming location challenges

Albuquerque's Breaking Bad tourism scene is already at the epicenter of pop culture. With that, the question becomes whether integrating novelty betting could turn Breaking Bad’s success into a surprising revenue stream for New Mexico's betting market. Tourists and bettors could wager on prop-style bets tied to themed trivia nights and more creative novelty markets. With thousands of tourists engaging in Breaking Bad-themed experiences annually, a novelty betting rollout could capture a niche yet lucrative share of tourism dollars.

Since revenue reports are not readily available in NM due to the tribal casinos being in control, we’ll use $75 million as our projected average handle if mobile sports betting were legalized. If just 0.1% of the state's estimated $75 million sports betting handle came from novelty bets tied to Breaking Bad tourism, that would generate $75,000 in additional wagers. At New Mexico's typical tribal and racino-related revenue splits, even a modest 10% share would produce $7,500 in extra annual tax income from this micro-market alone.