New Mexico has a stormy gambling history. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by Congress in 1989, it looked like New Mexico might be one of the states to get on the Native casino craze. Politics assured that would not be the case.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a panel in 1990 to draft a contract with New Mexico American Indian tribes. When the task force arrived at an accord with 2 big local tribes a year later, the Governor declined to sign the bargain. He would hold up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took over in 1995, it appeared that American Indian gaming in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the compact with the Native bands, anti-gambling forces were able to tie the deal up in courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor had overstepped his bounds in signing the accord, therefore 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 accord amongst the Government of New Mexico and its Native tribes. A decade had been lost for gambling in New Mexico, including Amerindian casino Bingo.
The nonprofit Bingo business has increased since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. That year, New Mexico non-profit game operators brought in only $3,048 in revenues. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed one million dollars in 2001. Non-profit Bingo revenues have grown constantly since then. 2005 witnessed the largest year, with $1,233,289 earned by the providers.
Bingo is clearly beloved in New Mexico. All sorts of operators look for a bit of the action. With hope, the politicians are through batting over gambling as a key matter like they did in the 90’s. That is most likely hopeful thinking.
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