Pueblo of Tesuque 'absolutely pleased' with response to new casino

Thursday, December 6, 2018

New Mexico's newest tribal gaming facility opened to the public on the day after Thanksgiving and the response has been positive, a Pueblo of Tesuque executive said.

The Tesuque Casino is only a few miles from Santa Fe, the state capital. It's located next to the famed Santa Fe Opera, a well-known venue.

“We’re absolutely pleased with the amount of customers that came to us on that day and since, so we’re very pleased with everything that’s happening at that casino,” John Kubiak, the chairman of the Pueblo of Tesuque Development Corp., told The Santa Fe New Mexican. “They’re going better than we planned.”

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The tribe shut down the Camel Rock Casino, its original gaming facility, to prepare for the new development. Kubiak said the structure remains solid but a decision hasn't been made on what will happen to it.

“We are exploring all kinds of different alternatives at this point in time,” Kubiak told the paper. An indoor flea market and a museum are under consideration, he said.

Tesuque Casino is first new gaming property in northern New Mexico in nearly three years. The Pueblo of Nambé opened a casino nearby in January 2016 but it closed less than two years later.

All of the other tribal casinos in the area have been in operation for several years. Besides Tesuque, the Pueblo of Pojoaque, the Pueblo of Santa Clara and Ohkay Owingeh operate gaming facilities on the same highway leading out of Santa Fe. Each property features a hotel

Future plans at the Tesuque Casino include a hotel as well. A tentative groundbreaking is set for sometime in 2019, according to the casino's Facebook account.