New Mexico has a complex gambling background. When the IGRA was passed by Congress in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it seemed like New Mexico would be one of the states to get on the Indian casino bandwagon. Politics guaranteed that wouldn’t be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a task force in Nineteen Ninety to negotiate an accord with New Mexico Amerindian bands. When the panel arrived at an accord with 2 important local tribes a year later, the Governor declined to sign the agreement. He would hold up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took over in Nineteen Ninety Five, it seemed that Native gambling in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson passed the contract with the American Indian tribes, anti-gambling forces were able to hold the deal up in courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing a deal, therefore denying the government 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 house, to get the ball rolling on a full accord amongst the Government of New Mexico and its Amerindian bands. 10 years had been burned for gambling in New Mexico, including Amerindian casino Bingo.
The nonprofit Bingo industry has gotten bigger from Nineteen Ninety-Nine. That year, New Mexico charity game operators acquired just $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded a million dollars in revenues in 2001. Not for profit Bingo earnings have increased constantly since that time. 2005 saw the greatest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the operators.
Bingo is apparently beloved in New Mexico. All types of operators look for a piece of the action. Hopefully, the politicos are through batting around gaming as an important matter like they did in the 90’s. That is probably wishful thinking.
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