New Mexico has a complex gambling past. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by Congress in 1989, it looked like New Mexico would be one of the states to cash in on the Native casino craze. Politics guaranteed that wouldn’t be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a task force in Nineteen Ninety to discuss an accord with New Mexico Native bands. When the task force came to an accord with two big local tribes a year later, the Governor declined to sign the bargain. He held up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took office in Nineteen Ninety Five, it appeared that American Indian wagering in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the contract with the Native bands, anti-gaming forces were able to tie the deal up in the courts. A New Mexico court ruled that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing the compact, therefore denying the state of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.
It required the CNA, signed by the New Mexico house, to get the ball rolling on a full contract amongst the State of New Mexico and its Amerindian bands. Ten years had been lost for gambling in New Mexico, which includes Indian casino Bingo.
The nonprofit Bingo business has gotten bigger from 1999. That year, New Mexico not for profit game owners acquired just $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded one million dollars in revenues in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo revenues have grown constantly since then. 2005 witnessed the greatest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the operators.
Bingo is certainly favored in New Mexico. All types of owners look for a piece of the action. With hope, the politicos are done batting over gambling as a key issue like they did in the 1990’s. That is most likely wishful thinking.
This entry was posted on May 11, 2022, 5:25 pm and is filed under Casino. You can follow any responses to this entry through RSS 2.0. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.