New Mexico has a stormy gambling history. When the IGRA was passed by the House in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it seemed like New Mexico might be one of the states to get on the Native casino bandwagon. Politics assured that wouldn’t be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a task force in Nineteen Ninety to discuss an accord with New Mexico Amerindian tribes. When the task force came to an agreement with 2 important local bands a year later, the Governor refused to sign the bargain. He held up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took office in Nineteen Ninety Five, it seemed that Native betting in New Mexico was a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson passed the compact with the Indian bands, anti-gaming groups were able to hold 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 state of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.
It took the Compact Negotiation Act, signed by the New Mexico government, to get the ball rolling on a full accord amongst the Government of New Mexico and its Native tribes. Ten years had been burned for gambling in New Mexico, which includes Native casino Bingo.
The non-profit Bingo business has gotten bigger from Nineteen Ninety-Nine. In that year, New Mexico non-profit game owners brought in just $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded one million dollars in revenues in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo revenues have grown constantly since that time. Two Thousand and Five saw the biggest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the owners.
Bingo is apparently beloved in New Mexico. All types of providers try for a piece of the pie. Hopefully, the politicians are done batting around gambling as an important matter like they did in the 1990’s. That is probably wishful thinking.
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