Sports betting comes to a New Mexico tribal casino chain

‘CUBAN RHAPSODY’  Interview with Apache Nugget CEO Tony J. Amormino By David McKee

If you’re on the road to Albuquerque, New Mexico, as you ease on down southeast toward Cuba (New Mexico, that is), you’d pass the Apache Nugget Travel Center & Casino. You might even break your journey there. If you do, you’ll find 80 slot machines at your beck and call, along with an entire wall’s worth of electronic table games. And soon, very soon, the now-idle sports book will go live.
The book is being incepted in partnership with ISI Race & Sports, a mainstay of tribal and Caribbean casinos. To find out more about Apache Nugget Corp., the Jicarilla Apache Nation and about ISI, we sat down with Apache Nugget CEO Tony J. Amormino. Our conversation has been lightly edited for clarity.

When will your new sports book debut?

When we signed the contract we were slated to debut August 16. However, we have a big fight coming up August 2. So the guys at ISI and I are actually trying to streamline it pretty quickly, to see if we can get August 1. That way we’re up and running.

For those unfamiliar with your casino, where is it, how large is it and what is your gaming inventory like?

Right now we are in Cuba, New Mexico. From the heart of Cuba we’re about 15 minutes to the north and west, along U.S. 550. We’re halfway between Albuquerque and Farmington, so on your way into the Four Corners this is a perfect stopping point. We have slot machines, electronic tables, soon-to-be sports book, and Class II iGaming would be coming to the facility. We’ve got some of the biggest names, from Aristocrat and Light & Wonder, in our facility. Right now, Huff N’ Even More Puff and some of the big names from Aristocrat are in. We’ve got some of the old classics – Buffalo, Timberwolf – and some video poker as well.

What are your major feeder markets?

Looking at our player development and our tracking system, we have players coming from Phoenix, Salt Lake City, Denver and El Paso. That’s kind of our immediate circle, where we’re drawing regular customers from, but we’ve had players from as far away as Seattle and Miami. So we’ve stretched the entire continent and a lot of people, even when I was at SBC, know about us and come to our facility.

How many other casinos in New Mexico does Apache Nugget operate, other than the one near Cuba?

The company had three. Covid shut it down, so this is our first property. We just finished our feasibility study for a resort property that we’re hoping to have a shovel in the ground by the end of summer, at least opening in fall 2026. That is the internal goal for us. It will be in Chama, New Mexico, about a half-hour from Pagosa Springs and Durango. There’s a lot of big-game hunting and fishing up in that area, and we have a lot of major things that we are already starting to put into our pipeline for major events, once that officially comes on board.

How widespread is sports betting in New Mexico?

Sports betting is extremely big. A lot of people have asked for it. I’ve been in the state now for almost 10 months. The first thing that I did when I said I was opening multiple casinos, they go, ‘Well, what about a sports book?’ People are itching for it. Obviously right now it’s tied to reservations but there is a major appetite for it across the entire state, should that ever open up off reservation land.

Are you losing customers by not having offered it so far?

We were losing some, probably about 10 to 15 percent of our players. They’d come in and look to see the sports book. We had the sports book built. We just didn’t have the machines for it. So people were frustrated. I had talked with some of our regulars and they were saying that it was a big draw for them to get that sports book on site.

Image: Apache Nugget CEO Tony J. Amormino

Was a compact amendment necessary in order to offer sports wagering?

No, our compact was ready for that. Now, there are pieces of our compact that will we will have to go back and tweak, should we choose, if we wanted to do Class III iGaming. But now our compact was already up to date with that and a few other pieces that we are looking to add here in the next 18 months.

What will be on offer at the sports book?

You’re going to hit all your major sports: NFL, NBA, baseball, hockey, European soccer leagues. It’s going to be a wide array. When we created what we wanted to do with the sports book, I included everything down to NCAA baseball and softball. I don’t think we’ll have those right away. I wanted to make sure if you wanted to place a bet, a big professional or collegiate event, you would have that ability. Now with us here in New Mexico, we can’t bet on the Lobos or the Aggies. But you can bet on anything else in the area.

Will there be live walk-up windows or is it kiosk-based?

That’s exactly what we already have in place. Our TVs, when we designed this property, were already designed with the sports book in mind. We could have as many as eight different games on TV for you to watch and everything is programmable for us to make sure everyone can watch their favorite game. That being said, we will have live stations, terminal stations, a little bit for everyone. Some of the older clientele, we’ve got the window. The younger clientele who want to get in and place the bet, and watch the game, we’ll have that for them as well.

What can you tell us about ISI Race & Sports?

We’re excited. We did a very comprehensive evaluation of nine different sports book partners. ISI’s flexibility, their deep market experience – especially in the tribal market – was big for us. Their commitment to tribal sovereignty was a huge tipping point for us, deciding on who we wanted to go with.

How many other sports books does ISI operate?

ISI does quite a few in the Caribbean and a good number overall. I don’t want to say because I’m going to undershoot it but I want to say they have 75 different sports-book partners.
Will the sports book near Cuba be retail-only?

To start, it will. But our full intention is to have that sports book mobilized by summer 2026. We will have our mobile, Class II iGaming mobile by the end of Q3 of ’25, so that will kind of work out the kinks for us as we get the sports book up and running.

For our readers, could you explain how Class II iGaming works, as opposed to Class III?

Class II is … anyone who’s seen a bingo card on one of the corners of your slot machine, it all looks the same. Payouts are converted a little differently because of your pay lines. But it’s the same games as we offer to all of our guests and, as we transition into a Class III mobile-online integration, it’s going to bring the same pieces that you see on any gaming floor right to the palm of your hand.

How significant of a revenue stream do you expect from the sports book?

I expect a much broader vision. As we open, it’s a much smaller one, before our resort, I am looking at such a major integration with this. It’s going to get all of our customers acclimated to the offering that we have. Then, when we tie in the Class II iGaming and the mobilized sports book, that’s where we’re going to make money hand over fist in the long run. I do see a significant boost, especially when you parlay it with some of the other amenities that we are starting to add into the facility, tying it into the sports book, and partner it with some major professional and collegiate events in the area. I think the sports book’s going to be a big hit and could become number one or number two in the state of New Mexico by the turn of the decade.

What tax rate do you pay in New Mexico?

Right now, for the sports book, we are getting taxed the same as every other corporation inside the state [5.9 percent]. I would always like to see the number come down. I don’t like to speak too much to specifics on the number that I would ideally like to see. As a tribe we’ve talked about where we want to be. We’ve got 11 years before our compact is up. I know the tax rate might be a thing of contention when we get ready to talk about adding some other pieces to our puzzle.

How difficult is it for smaller operators like ISI to penetrate the stateside marketplace?

You’ve got the three-headed monster [DraftKings, FanDuel and BetMGM]. The big thing with ISI is their ability to work with a lot of smaller entities and tribes gives them the ability to broaden their reach. People know their product. You go into Oklahoma, down to Kansas, Washington or Oregon and they’ve got the ISI product. People who go on a cruise, they’re going to see ISI in there. That ability – for them to spread rapidly across the country, as opposed to hitting the major population areas – only helps drive their potential as they continue to grow.

How many new jobs will the addition of sports betting support?

As we get our sports book fully acclimated, we’re looking to add a team of 12. Then, when we add our Chama property, it’s probably going to triple from there, close to 50 people when things are said and done.

What are your aspirations for the future of Apache Nugget?

Hosting collegiate basketball events, soccer, professional golf. These are all things that we’re looking to bring into the area. I’ve even started to talking with a few people about potentially bringing in a professional exhibition match to our facilities up in Chama. But those are very preliminary discussions. From a gaming perspective, we’re always trying to be an innovator. That’s the big thing with the Jicarilla Apache: They were always innovative in things they were doing, even before gaming came into play for them. I want to make sure we are following that same protocol as we look to be innovators with virtual gaming, virtual reality, iGaming. I want to be somebody who’s not reactive. I want to be proactive with our approach.