New Mexico has a bitter gaming background. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by the House in 1989, it seemed like New Mexico would be one of the states to cash in on the American Indian casino bandwagon. Politics assured that would not be the situation.
The New Mexico governor Bruce King appointed a working group in 1990 to negotiate an accord with New Mexico Native bands. When the task force came to an agreement with 2 important local bands a year later, Governor King refused to sign the bargain. He would hold up a deal until 1994.
When a new governor took over in Nineteen Ninety Five, it seemed that American Indian gaming in New Mexico was a certainty. But when Governor Gary Johnson passed the compact with the Indian tribes, anti-gambling groups were able to tie the contract up in the courts. A New Mexico court found that the Governor had overstepped his bounds in signing the accord, thus costing the state of New Mexico many hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing revenues over the next several years.
It took the CNA, passed by the New Mexico house, to get the ball rolling on a full accord amongst the Government of New Mexico and its Amerindian bands. Ten years had been squandered for gambling in New Mexico, which includes Native casino Bingo.
The not for profit Bingo business has increased since 1999. That year, New Mexico non-profit game owners acquired only $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and passed one million dollars in 2001. Not for profit Bingo revenues have grown constantly since that time. Two Thousand and Five witnessed the greatest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the operators.
Bingo is apparently favored in New Mexico. All sorts of operators look for a bit of the pie. Hopefully, the politicos are through batting over gaming as a hot button factor like they did back in the 90’s. That’s probably wishful thinking.
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