New Mexico has a bitter gambling past. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by Congress in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico would be one of the states to get on the American Indian casino craze. Politics assured that would not be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a panel in Nineteen Ninety to discuss an accord with New Mexico Native bands. When the task force arrived at an agreement with two prominent local bands a year later, Governor King declined to sign the bargain. He held up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took over in 1995, it seemed that Indian gambling in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the accord with the Indian bands, anti-wagering groups were able to tie the accord up in the courts. A New Mexico court ruled that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing the deal, therefore costing the government of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.
It required the Compact Negotiation Act, signed by the New Mexico legislature, to get the process moving on a full contract amongst the Government of New Mexico and its American Indian bands. A decade had been burned for gaming in New Mexico, which includes Amerindian casino Bingo.
The nonprofit Bingo business has grown since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. In that year, New Mexico non-profit game owners acquired just $3,048 in revenues. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and passed one million dollars in 2001. Not for profit Bingo revenues have increased constantly since then. 2005 saw the largest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the operators.
Bingo is clearly beloved in New Mexico. All sorts of providers look for a piece of the action. Hopefully, the politicians are done batting over gaming as an important matter like they did in the 90’s. That is without doubt wishful thinking.
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