New Mexico has a bitter gambling 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 get on the Amerindian casino craze. Politics guaranteed that wouldn’t be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a working group in Nineteen Ninety to draft an accord with New Mexico Amerindian bands. When the panel arrived at an accord with two big local tribes a year later, the Governor declined to sign the bargain. He held up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.
When a new governor took over in 1995, it appeared that American Indian betting in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor passed the compact with the Indian tribes, anti-gaming forces were able to hold the contract up in courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had out stepped his bounds in signing the accord, therefore denying 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 legislature, to get the process moving on a full compact amongst the State of New Mexico and its Indian bands. 10 years had been burned for gaming in New Mexico, including Amerindian casino Bingo.
The non-profit Bingo business has increased from 1999. That year, New Mexico non-profit game owners acquired just $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and passed one million dollars in revenues in 2001. Not for profit Bingo revenues have increased constantly since that time. Two Thousand and Five witnessed the largest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the providers.
Bingo is apparently favored in New Mexico. All sorts of operators try for a slice of the pie. Hopefully, the politicians are done batting around gambling as an important matter like they did in the 1990’s. That is without doubt hopeful thinking.
