New Mexico has a bitter gaming history. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by Congress in 1989, it looked like New Mexico would be one of the states to get on the Indian casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that wouldn’t be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a panel in 1990 to negotiate an accord with New Mexico Indian tribes. When the working group arrived at an accord with two prominent local bands a year later, the Governor declined to sign the agreement. He would hold up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.
When a new governor took office in Nineteen Ninety Five, it seemed that Native gambling in New Mexico was a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson passed the accord with the Native bands, anti-wagering groups were able to tie the contract up in courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had out stepped his bounds in signing the compact, thereby denying the government of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.
It took the CNA, passed by the New Mexico house, to get the ball rolling on a full accord amongst the Government of New Mexico and its Native bands. Ten years had been burned for gambling in New Mexico, which includes Indian casino Bingo.
The non-profit Bingo business has gotten bigger since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. In that year, New Mexico charity game owners acquired just $3,048 in revenues. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and passed a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Non-profit Bingo revenues have grown steadily since that time. Two Thousand and Five saw the biggest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the providers.
Bingo is certainly favored in New Mexico. All kinds of operators look for a bit of the action. Hopefully, the politicos are through batting around gaming as an important factor like they did in the 1990’s. That is most likely hopeful thinking.
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