New Mexico has a bitter gaming history. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by Congress in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it looked like New Mexico might be one of the states to cash in on the Indian casino craze. Politics guaranteed that wouldn’t be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a panel in Nineteen Ninety to discuss a compact with New Mexico Native tribes. When the task force came to an accord with two prominent local bands 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 seemed that Native gambling in New Mexico was a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson signed the compact with the American Indian tribes, anti-gaming groups were able to tie the deal up in courts. A New Mexico court ruled that Governor Johnson had out stepped his bounds in signing the accord, thus denying the state of New Mexico many 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 compact amongst the State of New Mexico and its Native tribes. A decade had been burned for gaming in New Mexico, including Native casino Bingo.
The nonprofit Bingo industry has increased since 1999. In that year, New Mexico not for profit game owners acquired only $3,048 in revenues. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed a million dollars in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo revenues have increased constantly since then. 2005 saw the biggest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the operators.
Bingo is certainly favored in New Mexico. All types of providers look for a bit of the action. Hopefully, the politicians are through batting around gaming as a hot button factor like they did in the 90’s. That is probably wishful thinking.
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