New Mexico has a rocky gaming past. When the IGRA was passed by the House in Nineteen Eighty Nine, 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 case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a task force in Nineteen Ninety to create a contract with New Mexico Amerindian bands. When the working group came to an agreement with 2 big local tribes a year later, the Governor refused to sign the bargain. He held up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.
When a new governor took over in 1995, it appeared that American Indian wagering in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson signed the accord with the Indian bands, anti-gambling groups were able to tie the contract up in courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing a deal, thereby denying the government of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.
It required the Compact Negotiation Act, signed by the New Mexico legislature, to get the ball rolling on a full compact between the State of New Mexico and its Indian bands. A decade had been lost for gambling in New Mexico, which includes Indian casino Bingo.
The nonprofit Bingo business has increased from Nineteen Ninety-Nine. That year, New Mexico not for profit game owners brought in only $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and passed one million dollars in 2001. Not for profit Bingo revenues have grown steadily since then. Two Thousand and Five saw the biggest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the operators.
Bingo is clearly beloved in New Mexico. All sorts of owners try for a piece of the pie. Hopefully, the politicians are through batting around gambling as a hot button matter like they did back in the 90’s. That is most likely hopeful thinking.
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