New Mexico has a rocky gaming background. When the IGRA was passed by Congress in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico might be one of the states to get on the Indian casino craze. Politics assured that would not be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a task force in Nineteen Ninety to discuss a compact with New Mexico Indian bands. When the task force arrived at an agreement with two important local bands a year later, the Governor declined to sign the agreement. He held up a deal until Nineteen Ninety Four.
When a new governor took over in 1995, it seemed that Native betting in New Mexico was a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson signed the accord with the American Indian bands, anti-gambling groups were able to hold the deal up in courts. A New Mexico court found that Governor Johnson had overstepped his bounds in signing the compact, thereby denying the state of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.
It required the CNA, signed by the New Mexico house, to get the process moving on a full compact amongst the Government of New Mexico and its Amerindian tribes. 10 years had been burned for gambling in New Mexico, including Indian casino Bingo.
The nonprofit Bingo industry has gotten bigger since Nineteen Ninety-Nine. That year, New Mexico charity game operators brought in just $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and passed one million dollars in revenues in 2001. Not for profit Bingo revenues have grown constantly since that time. Two Thousand and Five saw the biggest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the providers.
Bingo is clearly favored in New Mexico. All kinds of providers look for a slice of the action. Hopefully, the politicians are through batting over gambling as an important factor like they did in the 1990’s. That’s probably hopeful thinking.
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