New Mexico has a complex gambling history. When the IGRA was passed by the House in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico would be one of the states to cash in on the Amerindian casino craze. Politics guaranteed that would not be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a task force in 1990 to create a compact with New Mexico American Indian tribes. When the panel came to an accord with 2 important local tribes a year later, Governor King refused to sign the agreement. He held up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took office in 1995, it seemed that Indian gaming in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the contract with the American Indian tribes, anti-gambling forces were able to tie the contract up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had out stepped his bounds in signing the compact, thereby costing the government of New Mexico many 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 amongst the Government of New Mexico and its Amerindian tribes. A decade had been lost for gambling in New Mexico, including Native casino Bingo.
The not for profit Bingo industry has grown since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. That year, New Mexico not for profit game operators brought in only $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and passed one million dollars in 2001. Non-profit Bingo revenues have grown constantly since then. 2005 witnessed the biggest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the providers.
Bingo is apparently popular in New Mexico. All types of providers try for a bit of the action. With hope, the politicos are done batting around gambling as a key matter like they did in the 90’s. That is most likely wishful thinking.
0 Responses
Stay in touch with the conversation, subscribe to the RSS feed for comments on this post.
You must be logged in to post a comment.