New Mexico has a bitter gaming background. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by Congress in 1989, it looked like New Mexico might be one of the states to get on the American Indian casino bandwagon. Politics assured that wouldn’t be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King announced a panel in 1990 to negotiate a contract with New Mexico Indian bands. When the panel arrived at an agreement with 2 important local tribes a year later, the Governor declined to sign the agreement. He would hold up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took over in 1995, it seemed that Native wagering in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson signed the contract with the American Indian tribes, anti-wagering groups were able to hold the contract up in courts. A New Mexico court ruled that Governor Johnson had out stepped his bounds in signing a deal, thereby costing the state of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.
It required the Compact Negotiation Act, passed by the New Mexico house, to get the process moving on a full compact between the State of New Mexico and its Native bands. Ten years had been squandered for gaming in New Mexico, including Indian casino Bingo.
The not for profit Bingo business has increased since 1999. In that year, New Mexico non-profit game owners brought in only $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and passed a million dollars in 2001. Not for profit Bingo revenues have grown constantly since that time. Two Thousand and Five witnessed the biggest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the providers.
Bingo is apparently beloved in New Mexico. All kinds of operators try for a slice of the pie. With hope, the politicians are through batting over gambling as an important issue like they did back in the 90’s. That is without doubt hopeful thinking.
This entry was posted on June 3, 2018, 3:25 pm and is filed under Casino. You can follow any responses to this entry through RSS 2.0. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.