New Mexico has a complex gaming past. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by the House in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico might be one of the states to cash in on the Indian casino craze. Politics assured that would not be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a working group in 1990 to draft a contract with New Mexico Native tribes. When the working group arrived at an agreement with two big local tribes a year later, Governor King refused to sign the agreement. He held up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.
When a new governor took over in Nineteen Ninety Five, it appeared that Amerindian gambling in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the accord with the Indian tribes, anti-wagering groups were able to tie the deal up in the courts. A New Mexico court ruled that the Governor had overstepped his bounds in signing a deal, thus costing the state of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues 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 contract between the Government of New Mexico and its Amerindian tribes. Ten years had been squandered for gambling in New Mexico, including Native casino Bingo.
The nonprofit Bingo business has increased from 1999. In that year, New Mexico charity game owners brought in only $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and passed a million dollars in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo revenues have grown steadily since then. 2005 witnessed the largest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the owners.
Bingo is apparently favored in New Mexico. All kinds of operators try for a bit of the pie. Hopefully, the politicos are done batting around gaming as a hot button factor like they did in the 1990’s. That’s without doubt hopeful thinking.
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