New Mexico has a rocky gaming past. When the IGRA was signed by the House in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it seemed like New Mexico would be one of the states to cash in on the Indian casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that would not be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a panel in Nineteen Ninety to discuss a contract with New Mexico Amerindian bands. When the working group came to an accord with 2 important local tribes a year later, Governor King declined to sign the agreement. He held up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.
When a new governor took over in 1995, it appeared that Indian betting in New Mexico was a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the compact with the Amerindian bands, anti-gaming forces were able to hold the deal up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor 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 CNA, passed by the New Mexico house, to get the process moving on a full contract amongst the Government of New Mexico and its Indian bands. A decade had been burned for gambling in New Mexico, which includes Amerindian casino Bingo.
The non-profit Bingo industry has gotten bigger from 1999. That year, New Mexico charity game providers brought in only $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo earnings have grown constantly since then. 2005 witnessed the greatest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the operators.
Bingo is categorically beloved in New Mexico. All types of operators look for a slice of the action. Hopefully, the politicos are done batting over gambling as an important factor like they did in the 1990’s. That’s most likely wishful thinking.
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