Nambé Pueblo’s first casino to open Sun.
Small ‘boutique space’ features ‘elegant’ gaming floor, easy parking
SANTA FE — Nambé Pueblo will open the doors to its first casino starting Sunday.
The Nambé Falls Casino is smaller than its existing competitors at 7,310 square feet and has 180 slot machines. A news release calls it “a boutique space” with “one of the most elegant gaming floors in the region” and the most convenient parking of any area casino.
The casino is adjacent to Nambé Falls Travel Center 16 miles north of Santa Fe on U.S. 84-284. The pueblo has touted the new facility as “convenience-based gaming.”
The doors will be open to the public starting Sunday from 6 p.m. to midnight. A tribal member event will be held that day from 2-6 p.m. An official grand opening is scheduled for Feb. 6.
The opening comes after years of discussion of Nambé going into the casino business. Construction started in May, just south of Pojoaque Pueblo’s huge Buffalo Thunder Resort and Casino. Pamela Gallegos, formerly of Hard Rock CasinoHotel Albuquerque, is the new casino’s general manager.
Nambé has been considering a gambling operation for well more than a decade. Fourteen other tribes or pueblos have casinos.
Nambé had a gambling compact with state government that was signed in 2007 but joined other pueblos in agreeing to this year to a new 22-year compact which was endorsed by the 2015 Legislature and then signed by Gov. Susana Martinez, according to the state Gaming Control Board’s website.
Nambé officials said earlier this year that the pueblo and its subsidiary, the Nambé Pueblo Gaming Enterprise, had financing with First National Bank of Santa Fe to launch the project. The site is on land along the highway that Nambé obtained in a land swap with Pojoaque Pueblo years ago.
Several years ago, Nambé made plans for construction of a much-larger casino and obtained approval from various agencies. But in 2008, it dropped those plans for a 50,000-square-foot, “Star Trek” themed casino on 30 acres, due to economic concerns.
The new project was developed by Development Services Group & Associates, an Albuquerque-based firm that assists tribes in building businesses.