New Mexico has a bitter gaming history. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed by Congress in 1989, 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 1990 to draft a compact with New Mexico Amerindian bands. When the task force arrived at an agreement with 2 important local bands a year later, the Governor refused to sign the bargain. He would hold up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took over in 1995, it appeared that Native gaming in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson signed the compact with the Indian tribes, anti-gambling groups were able to hold the deal up in the courts. A New Mexico court ruled that the Governor had out stepped his bounds in signing the deal, thereby costing 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 legislature, to get the ball rolling on a full accord amongst the Government of New Mexico and its Amerindian bands. A decade had been squandered for gaming in New Mexico, including Native casino Bingo.
The not for profit Bingo business has increased from Nineteen Ninety-Nine. In that year, New Mexico not for profit game providers brought in only $3,048. That climbed to $725,150 in 2000, and exceeded one million dollars in revenues in 2001. Non-profit Bingo earnings have grown constantly since then. Two Thousand and Five witnessed the biggest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the providers.
Bingo is clearly beloved in New Mexico. All sorts of owners look for a slice of the pie. Hopefully, the politicos are done batting over gaming as a hot button issue like they did back in the 90’s. That’s probably wishful thinking.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
